


Phantoms Justice

by Amara22



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Danny Phantom, Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bat Family, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Dimension Travel, F/M, Family Feels, M/M, crack ships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-27 13:14:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 52,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17767454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amara22/pseuds/Amara22
Summary: Danny is sent to a different world after his is destroyed and did he mention that in this world there are aliens and superheroes and suddenly he isnt the weirdest thing around.  He gets adopted and brings two people together who wouldnt have been together if it wasnt for him and unknowingly brings what could have been a broken family together and keeps them together.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This has several crack pairings so if you dont like to read that dont read the story. This is also on fanfiction. Im pairing batman and black canary, artemis and danny and Im thinking of pairing dick with Kaldur but I havent made up my mind. Comment suggestions but not barbara they always end up broken up in the comics.

AN: This story is written in young justice s1 but this starts before the show like January. I think the series starts in june.

Chapter one

The League just stared at the device as Batman scanned it, they were having a normal meeting, discussing the usual things, budgets, politics, villains, and there were some arguments but that was all nothing out of the ordinary until a glowing green portal about the size of a A4 page opened and then closed leaving behind nothing but a weird looking thermos with a weird green F on it. Batman scanned the metal however the only thing that the scans could tell them was that it was made out of an unknown metal.

Flash couldn't help it, he picked up the thermos and suddenly a glowing blue light appeared and then there was a hologram. The man wore a purple cape and had blue skin and a weird scar over one of his eyes and the man started talking or better yet explaining.

"My name is Clockwork and in my universe I am known as the Father of Time and I am also a ghost."

There were several shouts of disbelief but Batman silenced them all, "Stop it. We don't know if we can get him to repeat any parts of his message if we miss something."

"I say universe because I hope you are familiar with inter dimensional travel, if you are not then the many worlds theory exists and it is real. The belief that there are other Earths either vastly similar or different to our own but vibrate at a different frequency so that we do not see each other. We are not from any of your dimensions but rather we are from a different universe entirely. My universe has ended. The dimensions connected to my own have been lost as well and I am ashamed to say it was because of my arrogance. As the keeper of time, I believed that I was in control however I let a being exist outside of time, another villain used him as tool against me and my King, my apprentice however I believe I have gotten too far, before I tell you of how I failed I must tell you of what the device I have sent to your universe contains and why I have sent the thermos to you.

In this universe, the ghosts live in what we call the flipside of the living realm, thousands of years ago it was known as the Infinite Realms now it is just the Ghost Zone. It is made up of something called ectoplasm and sometimes portals appear in the Ghost Zone, tears in the fabric of space and time leading us to living realm. These tears are very dangerous as there is no true concept of time in the Ghost Zone, you can go to the living realm but you never know when or where you end up or how long the portal will remain open and for a long time it was our only way to travel to the living realm but then humanity caught up to us. Maddie and Jack Fenton were ghost hunters and scientists who were determined to prove that ghosts and the Ghost Zone existed.

They first tried when they were young, they built a smaller portal, it was supposed to punch a hole into our world and prove that we existed but that exploded and put one of their friends in the hospital after being exposed to ectoplasm he fell into a 10 year coma and then they tried again, decades later when they had a 14 year old son and a 16 year old daughter. The portal didn't work and then the boy went inside, there was an accident and he was electrocuted with both electricity and the ectoplasm from the Ghost Zone bonded to his body turning him into something that the world had never seen before-a Halfa- Half ghost, Half human. A boy who walked the line between life and death, living in both world yet not belonging to any. He was the perfect balance of life and death and he chose to use his powers for good. The portal allowed evil ghosts to come through and harm the living, the boy sent them back, he was only 14 years old.

As time passed the threats he faced grew in power as did he, and eventually he faced Tyrant King of Ghosts. They fought and he won the title of Ghost King but he never took the crown officially. There were two others like him, just not as balanced as he was, Vlad Masters was the first Halfa that his parents created, he was the friend from college that they put into the 10 year coma however the ectoplasm didn't bond as well to him. He was more human than ghost, more experienced in the power but not as powerful as he was. He was obsessed with the boys mother Maddie, he felt like the coma had stolen his chance to be with her as he loved her first and when he knew that the boy was also half ghost he saw the perfect family, the perfect son but the boy was loyal he would not renounce his father to become his apprentice although he wished for someone to help him understand his power he refused to pay the price Vlad asked for.

The third Halfa was the boys clone, Vlad was desperate for a son but the cloning process went wrong and Danielle was born however she was more Ghost than human. The boy protected her, saved her from Vlad and his manipulations and claimed that they were cousins. He looked out for her and cared for her.

However, there was a timeline when the boy went insane, ripped apart by loss and pain, he ripped out his human half and Vlad's human half killed the human part of himself merged the two ghost parts together both of which were insane and rampaged the world until nothing was left. The events that led to his insanity were fixed however because they fought in the past and he won the evil version of himself had no-where else to go as such he existed outside of time. Vlad found out about him, attacked my home where I kept him imprisoned and released him.

The release of Vlad and Dan had the boy running on fumes, trying to get them both imprisoned once more and then the government attacked. The GIW were a human organization that was supposed to protect humans and study ghosts however they were blinded by hatred they launched a missile into the Ghost Zone in hopes of ending the threat of Dan after he rampaged through the human world until the boy tricked him into going into the Ghost Zone where they could fight without endangering innocents. They had been warned, repeatedly in the past that the Ghost Zone was connected to the living realm, a balance, one cannot exist without the other, the missile has destroyed the Zone and soon this universe will die and then it will be reborn, however they have successfully killed both the entire human race and the ghosts, the unbalancing of this Earth has led to this entire multiverse collapsing, with the last of my power I am sending the boy somewhere safe, where he can begin again, be warned he is part ghost he needs an anchor to the living world.

The boys name is Daniel Fenton or Phantom or as he likes to be called Danny Fenton/Phantom. He is 15 years old, I put him inside the thermos he used it to capture the ghosts that came to his home then released them back into the Zone. I sent him to your universe although my vision is clouded, all I know is that you are good people and I owe him this much, I had to save him even though he would have preferred to die with his loved ones, and I could not let him pay for my mistake. He deserves a second chance to live. The thermos can only be opened by a person who will not use him as a weapon or try to harm him. When you release him give him the thermos he knows how to open the secret compartment which will show him another message from me to him.

Do not release him unless someone is willing to be his anchor, time is short he will have to explain the rest, thank you for helping him and goodbye."

There was dead silence in the room when the hologram disappeared, and Flash spoke first, "Should we open it?"

Superman nodded, "He said that the boy is only 15 years old. He is a child or at least a teenager. We can't just leave him inside."

Several people nodded however Wonder Woman spoke next, "Can we be sure this is not a trap of some sort? What if this is an enemy trying to destroy us?

There were some who agreed with her, it wouldn't be the first time someone tried to play on their emotions and try to smuggle in either moles or villains willing to die to bring them down for whatever reason. There was the possibility that this was all an elaborate lie and when they opened the thermos someone could attack them.

Black Canary however had a different idea, "I say we open it and be ready. We cannot leave a living sentient person inside a prison especially if they didn't do anything wrong. If whoever is inside attacks, we defend ourselves, maybe even put him back inside the thermos."

Hawkwoman couldn't help but voice a question, "Is it safe to do so here and what exactly is an anchor?"

Batman frowned, she did have a point this was the Leagues secret hangout but they weren't sure of this persons powers or power levels, "We cannot take him somewhere that he could harm innocents. Its best to do so here where no one else can get in the way or be harmed. An anchor would probably someone willing to take care of him, help him build bonds to this world."

They all nodded and then they looked at the thermos which the Flash placed back on the center of the table, "Who is going to open it? It will be a big responsibility, almost like taking on a protégé or adopting a teenager." asked Aquaman.

Wonder Woman and Black Canary shared a look but Black Canary just nodded her head to her friend trying to explain that she understood the burden, "I'll do it."

Black Canary pressed the button and a soft white light poured out of it, a shape took form in the center of the room as everyone readied themselves for battle just in case. White boots appeared first, then a black jumpsuit with a DP symbol on it, white gloves and snow white hair. The boy had glowing green eyes, he stared at Black Canary with wide eyes before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed.

"Well that was anticlimactic." Muttered Flash however Superman was staring at the boy with narrowed eyes, "He doesn't have a heartbeat."

Several eyes widened however Black Canary spoke, "The blue guy did say that they were ghosts, its possible he isn't supposed to have a heartbeat."

Before they could talk anymore a white ring appeared around his waist and traveled in different directions leaving them looking at a black haired teen with blue jeans and a white t shirt with a red oval in the center.

"He has a heartbeat." Said Superman and Batman just ordered the boy to be taken to the infirmary.

The boy wasn't in the infirmary long before his eyes opened and he clutched at his chest with one hand and his head with the other. He had crystal blue eyes and the first person he saw when his eyes opened was Batman, he had been trying to check the boys blood pressure when his eyes opened and then he started muttering.

'Not here, missing, no haunt, no friends, no allies, missing, not enough, lost, couldn't save, gone, help.'

Batman's eyes widened as the boy clutched his hand and kept talking, almost seeming insane until Black Canary walked in and the boy turned to watch her she was trying to get him to calm down but he just stared at her with unseeing eyes until he clutched her hand and muttered something different, he said 'safe, mine.' And then he turned to Batman and he did the same thing and then he passed out again.

Green Arrow was watching in shock and then he spoke, "I think anchor means something else, something more to him."

Martian Manhunter couldn't help but listen, "He said no haunt. Is that not the place where in the stories ghosts are supposed to live in and scare people away from?"

Black Canary nodded her head, "It is, it's like the saying a haunted house."

Batman frowned, "There is more at play here and only he can tell us."

Black Canary sighed, "He is obviously still distressed. I'll stay with him as much as I can try to help him come to terms with his loss."

It took her a week before the boy was able to speak again, he seemed almost in a child-like for the first three days, he only observed Batman and Black Canary. He also noticed that Batman didn't sleep or each much as he worked and it seemed to disturb him, he had taken to sharing his food with the older man trying to get him to eat and sleep as well. Black Canary took it as a sign of both recovery and awareness, he had claimed them as 'his' and for some reason he felt the needed to protect and care for them and when Batman ate and slept when in his presence he seemed to recover faster and become more aware, almost like he was drawing energy from them. Wonder Woman said it once and to their shock the boy actually managed to talk, it had been five days since he had appeared.

"I am. Sorry for not asking permission, nothing here, hurts."

Batman, Black Canary, Superman and Wonder Woman watched the boy in shock and Black Canary immediately responded, "Its alright but can you tell us how we are helping? We do not understand, someone mentioned an anchor but we are not sure what it means."

"Anchor keeps Phantom alive, if Phantom dies I die. Two halves of a whole cannot destroy one without destroying the other."

Batman looked frustrated, "How do we anchor you?"

"Obsession. No obsession No Phantom. Anchor feeds obsession keeps Phantom alive."

Black Canary frowned not really understanding, "What is an obsession?"

"Gives ghost purpose, reason to form, to live, no obsession ghost fades, lose obsession ghost fades."

Batman wanted to ask more but the boy was getting tired, "How else can we help you?"

"Too warm, ice core, big man leave, not come close, bad."

The boy fell asleep leaving them with more questions than answers however Superman was trying not to be offended, "He thinks I'm bad?"

Batman just looked at him and Superman sighed and left the infirmary. He would keep watch from afar however the other three Leaguers seemed to already be discussing what the learned.

Wonder Woman was the one that spoke, "Unfinished business, there is a legend that says that ghosts are formed because they have something left to do on Earth, he speaks of an obsession something that is so powerful it causes a ghost to form and then they draw energy from fulfilling that obsession."

Batman nodded, "He spoke of Phantom saying that they were two halves of a whole, in this universe Phantom has no obsession so he is fading, dying. If Phantom dies then so does the human half of the boy."

Black Canary nodded, "An anchor would be something that provides him with the energy to feed his obsession and he has latched onto us to try and keep from fading."

Wonder Woman nodded, "Why the two of you though? There were many others present."

Batman hummed, "He saw us first, it was like when a baby bird imprints on someone. Black Canary released him and he saw her and then he woke up and I was here. I will bring Robin to meet him, they are almost the same age, it might help him recover faster."

"Are you sure?" asked Black Canary.

Batman nodded, "The others have been thinking about taking the first steps to bringing them closer to the League we are still in the discussion phases but having a teen around might help."


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Danny isn't one of Batman's protégés, currently Dick Grayson is Robin. I honestly believe that Batman could be a good father like figure to him but Black Canary is going to be his mentor like person, she never took on a protégé as far as I know also remember he isn't going to be on the team or join the League just yet.

I don't like Megan/Miss Martian not at all, in YJ S1 she wasn't so bad, kind of naïve and happy go lucky and I thought the relationship between her and SB was cute but in S2 she became this jealous person who didn't want SB to move on even though she moved on with La'gaan after trying to mind rape him. She got better with abusing her powers but I don't think they should have gotten back together, what she did, shouldn't be forgiven, I see it as she violated him kind of like actual rape, she went into his mind without permission and tried to change his memories, if it were real and happened to me I wouldn't be able to trust her ever again so I won't pair her with Danny, I might not even pair her with SB, I don't think she deserves him. In the Teen Titans (not much knowledge I preferred Young Justice) he was paired with Wondergirl, I think I'm gonna go in that direction. 

Chapter 2

When Danny awoke completely aware he was confused. He remembered the utter panic when Clockwork came and told him that Dan had escaped and for a little while revenge wasn't on his mind, all he wanted to do was sate his hunger for destruction. He attacked some random places at first, spreading mass chaos and panic until Danny was able to get him into the Ghost Zone. Then he was fighting him and Vlad appeared and then he was getting his ass kicked because he refused to let his friends anywhere near Dan, just too dangerous to put them in front of him.

He remembered Clockwork and his whole 'Time out' thing and then the thermos, Clockwork put him inside and it seemed like forever and then a lady let him out. She was pretty he realized, she had long blonde hair and pretty brown eyes but she wore something weird, and then there was a large guy in black, he also radiated safety and a sort of stay back feeling but it wasn't cruel more like it was a warning not to get close and hurt him. There was also the big guy that felt like the sun and he sent shivers up his spine, they kept him in an infirmary not to dissect him but trying to help him. There had been a boy here too, the boy was happy, his aura was safe and he was trying to anchor him to the living realm because there was nothing here. Why was there nothing here? What happened to his home?

"You are awake?"

Danny's mouth dropped, it was a robot, a red robot was talking to him. The robot handed him some papers dated almost 10 years into the future and there was a large stack.

"Batman has kept these here for you to try and understand our world and where you are. There is a laptop next to the papers so you can do your own research. There is also the thermos that you were sent to us in beside you. I am Red Tornado, a member of the Justice League, the others are seeing to a crisis on Earth, they will return shortly."

Danny put the paper down and picked up the thermos, he hit the button, twisted the bottom three times and it came off. Tucker devised it so they could pass messages with the thermos after a few too many lies to keep his secret that didn't add up. If Danny went missing for too long, they would send him the thermos and equipment when they found him along with whatever they told his parents to keep his secret so he knew what was going on back home. After a while it was just a good place to hide things and pass secret messages when they wanted too.

One of Clockworks medallions was inside and when he picked it up a hologram appeared, he was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice he had an audience, Batman, Black Canary, Flash, Wonder Woman and Superman had all returned and were checking in on their patient.

"Daniel, I am so sorry to do this to you, I know you would have preferred that I didn't but you need to understand that this isn't your fault, its mine. I failed you, I once told you that the observant's wanted you gone before you could lose your family and go insane. We stopped that future from happening but you defeated Dan in your timeline and I saved your family, when the future rewrote itself there was no-where left for him to return too as such he existed outside of time. That all went according to my plans however Vlad was never meant to find out about him, as Dan was no longer bound by time I couldn't see him or what his actions would do to the time line, I created my own blind spot. I was so sure everything was going according to plan that when he was released I was left scrambling to save our universe and I couldn't.

You know the rule, if the balance is upset then the scale must reset itself. This universe is over, finished, lost, I don't know if I'll even be reborn or what will happen to us but you must live. I sent you to another universe where you will be able to start again. You have always had a greater destiny to live up to and in whichever world you are in I wish you nothing but the best. We all need you to live Daniel, for as long as you live then so do we, our memory lives with you. Find happiness and a family, you of all people know that family isn't blood, its bonds. I am sorry that you are alone but I know that the people you are with will not abandon you, they are good people, that is all I know and I believe you will be safe. Remember do not mourn for the dead, life is only precious because time is short and then there is the afterlife to look forward too. Goodbye Danny."

The boy cried and Black Canary couldn't help but go to him and put him close to her as the fifteen year old boy cried and mourned for everything that he had lost. He cried himself to sleep and they left him once more, the boy was exhausted and they knew what the second message contained, nothing dangerous, just a personal goodbye and an apology for leaving him all alone.

When Danny woke up again, he was still sad but he was also determined to know what was going on around him so he read the papers first, they all spoke of heroes and aliens, Danny was shocked at that and then he noticed that the technology was years ahead of anything that he had seen, some kind of similar to his parents tech and they were thought to have the best weapons, almost decades ahead of anyone else in the field. Then he took to the laptop and typed in Justice League and figured out that even though this was Earth, the cities weren't even named the same.

He spent hours looking through the history and while it was all vastly different he knew he could trust them and then he also noticed that while there was magic, aliens and meta humans there were no ghosts here and when he concentrated he knew that there was no Ghost Zone, but the air was charged with ectoplasm, it was invisible but he was already pulling it to him, feeding his ghost side.

Flash walked into the infirmary and then he stopped dead as the kid seemingly drew some green goo out of the air and then he ate it.

"What is that?" he whispered but the boy heard him.

"Its ectoplasm, its present here unlike in my universe where it was mostly condensed in the zone there is no concentration of it. It just exists, wherever there is life, there is ectoplasm."

Black Canary watched the boy, "Are you eating it?"

The boy cocked his head like a puppy, "Ectoplasm is an energy source, its also what ghosts are supposed to be formed from and what runs in our body, similar to blood. I don't need much food only water and ectoplasm recharges my energy and heals my wounds, pure ectoplasm like this its like a five course meal, very good for me."

Batman seemed interested in the goo, "Energy source? Could it be adapted to power normal technology?"

The boy just nodded, "You just need the proper filter. Ectoplasm cannot be destroyed, you can reuse it as much as you want as long as its filtered right so it doesn't explode."

"Are you saying it can be a renewable energy source?" asked Batman.

Danny nodded, "My home ran off it."

Wonder Woman's eyes widened, "Could it be possible to use this to source of energy here? To harness it as a clean energy source that will not cause pollution?"

Danny nodded at her, "In theory, but you have to make sure it doesn't over heat and explode, it can take out a large area if there is enough power. The designs my parents made weren't perfect, they mainly focused on weapons to hunt ghosts."

Batman's eyes narrowed, "These weapons could harm humans?"

Danny shook his head, "Ectoplasm in its pure form doesn't hurt humans, maybe a light burn or it could just be a pain to come off but to hurt a human it has to be exposed to other energy like electricity, most of the weapons they made didn't do anything to humans."

Batman nodded, "We will look into it."

Then Superman walked in and the poor boy nearly dived under the bed which caused many raised eyebrows, "Has Superman harmed you child? Or is he reminding you of someone that did?" asked Wonder Woman.

The boy shook his head and took deep breaths, "I'm sorry it isn't his fault, its mine."

Black Canary narrowed her eyes, had someone much bigger than him harmed him, the thought made her want to claw someone's eyes out, he seemed so innocent, "Why?"

Danny cocked his head at her seemingly understanding that she wanted to protect him, "Not what you're thinking. He is opposite to me, it's strange."

They all seemed confused and the boy sighed, "I have an ice core, it means I am naturally cold, I draw energy from it as well. He draws energy from the sun, near someone like me he is a walking sun, as he radiates solar energy. My opposite, I can eventually become accustomed to it but I never met someone like that, it will take some time to be able to block out his energy from interfering with mine."

Superman seemed relieved that Danny didn't hate him or would be afraid of him rather they were biologically different. He admitted that he sensed the cold aura the boy had and it was weird for him as well. The Leaguers introduced themselves to him and Danny spoke of his world and how it was different. They did so slowly at first, he broke down a few times when talking of his friends and parents but eventually they had run out of questions.

Danny had met Robin many times and found the boy to be funny. He reminded him a bit of Tucker with his intelligence however it was obvious that while he was very good at working with technology he wasn't a techno-geek at least not like his friend. The two boys played around with the ectoplasm a bit, while Danny tried to remake his parents filter. This world seemed to be much further ahead of his world by at least two decades, this world was looking towards renewable energy sources as they were running the world supply of non-renewable resource low. Danny was trying to get the filter stable and safe so that it wouldn't explode and cause mass damage when it over heated, that really was the only problem with this type of energy, it wasn't as stable as other energy sources.

Robin told him about the heroes and the villains, filling him in on how this world worked both politically and covered almost everything else he had questions in. Danny hadn't changed into his ghost form for nearly a month and currently he was walking around the Watchtower trying to find something to do. Robin was school and Batman was still currently making up an identity for him. Danny had been keeping busy trying not to think of everything he had lost and he knew Dinah had been helping him. She was trained as a psychologist and she had been having sessions with him however while Danny was still mourning for everything that he had lost he had also come to terms with the fact that this was something that he could not have predicted.

The first time the GIW tried something like this, Danny had been sure that they wouldn't launch the nuke not after he told them what the consequences would be. When he had been fighting Dan and Vlad at the same time, the battle was not going well, the two hadn't even teamed up it had been a three way fight in the Ghost Zone and they had destroyed a huge chunk of the place. The thought of the GIW doing something so stupid never crossed his mind, not even he could figure out how he could have stopped something like this. Tucker was always keeping an eye on the GIW and what they were doing, they built in a system that would warn them if they were planning anything about the Ghost Zone or Phantom and they never got an alert. This was something that no one could have planned for and while he did miss them so much he was still spinning from learning everything in this universe. He spent nights crying his heart out, and now he just felt empty.

There were bonds to both Batman, Dinah and Robin grounding his ghost side to the living realm and he did mother hen them a bit and he was constantly told that as soon as they had an identity for him he would be going down to Earth. When he wasn't crying or learning he watched the stars. He was actually in space, his life-long dream, he managed it. Now all he was feeling was an itch to do something to take out some anger, to blow of some steam and then he found a training room.

He grinned, finally something that he could do, he didn't turn into Phantom while he did have the energy he didn't want to waste it too much, Phantom was mainly powered by purpose and here he was kind of lacking in that much, he wanted to see how much of his powers he could access in his human form.

Batman, Black Canary and many other Leaguers watched the boy and they were impressed.

"His style is sloppy, self-taught but he his highly adaptable and very powerful." Commented Wonder Woman.

"He has good instincts." Voiced Superman.

"He is definitely above the level of the others. He has too much experience but not enough training." Replied Batman.

Black Canary nodded, "I could teach him and they could learn from him."

Wonder Woman entered the training room, turning the training dummies off. "Would you spar with me?" she asked him and he grinned brightly at her.

She smiled and shook her head, "Not with your powers, it is obvious you have many, I would like to see your skills."

Danny smiled at her shyly, he had seen some of her fights on YouTube and she was amazing, "I'm not very good without them. I learned to fight with only my powers, then I had to learn to control them as they came."

Black Canary and Batman also walked in, "You didn't get all your powers at the same time?"

Danny shook his head, he never told them how he did what he did just what had happened, "When I first came out of the portal I only had three powers, flying, intangible and invisible. I healed faster and had a little super strength but as time went by I got more, I learned to shoot ectoblasts and then I realized that I could mold the ectoplasm into shields or weapons, like a sword or knife. Duplication was hard, I couldn't always make the copies perfect, sometimes they had extra eyes or hands or feet instead of hands and I couldn't make as many as Vlad and then I got my ice powers with the ice came a low level of empathy and then there's the usual ability to sense life, oh and the ghostly wail, I don't use that one much its very destructive and tiring."

"That's a lot of powers." Muttered Flash and the boy smiled sheepishly.

"Vlad was your enemy but we were told that you were more powerful than him but you couldn't do the same thing as him?" Said Superman. He still kept some space between them but Danny was able to slowly block out the energy that he radiated.

Danny wanted to get defensive because they were cross examining him but then he realized he was being an idiot, they were just confused.

"Vlad had all the same powers that I did but he had a fire core. He could manipulate electricity and fuse it with his ectoblasts but he didn't have the same raw power that I did. I was more powerful in terms of raw power but Vlad had perfected his powers. 20 years of experience using his powers on my couple months. I knew we could do the same thing just not the how, it took practice to be able to master my powers. The first three months and I was falling through floors, turning invisible when I didn't want too or floating while I was asleep. I also had more powers than him technically. All he had extra was the electricity which he fused with his ectoplasm to make it stronger, I could possibly develop my empathy abilities more and become a telepath but I didn't know how without hurting anyone. I didn't wanna dig around my friends minds and somehow hurt them."

Martian Manhunter put a hand on his shoulder, "If you are willing I can help you develop your empathy, I could feel your ability and while not strong there is potential to develop it further."

Danny smiled brightly at him and nodded and then Batman asked, "Ability to sense life?"

Danny blushed, bright red, "I know if a lady has given birth."

Several eyebrows were raised and he hastily explained, "Ghosts know where there is life, we always do, we are drawn to the living world, we know where there are large populations and we know when they are approaching death. The ability to feel a persons soul you could say but with a woman when she carries a baby and gives birth to that baby, she brings life and nurtures a soul. The baby leaves a mark on her, I just know. I can also tell when a person is slipping from this world into the next, a warning that this person is dying."

Several people didn't know what to make of that but it wasn't really anything bad so they let it go and went back to the topic at hand, "Your fighting style is self-taught, I would like to see what you have learned."

Danny got his ass kicked, but he managed to hit back with some strange moves that were obviously learned mid battle. He was good and he learned quickly watching as his opponent fought and learning from her as he defended himself. Dinah called out some encouragements as well as some advice and he also listened well. He took to heart any advice given and tried and to use it to the best of his ability. They were impressed however his large array of powers would probably put him up there with Superman.

Batman and Black Canary were talking, he had been able to come up with a background for him, they didn't want anyone to know that he came from a different universe. His powers could always be explained as him being a meta human or an alien but they really didn't want to bring too much attention to him, having powers here was more or less normal. However they were discussing where they were going to take him, Dinah insisted that he come with her to her apartment, when he went back to Earth he would no longer be able to avoid everything that he had lost, he would need her to help him through his depression but Robin had really bonded to the boy. He wanted to take him home to the manor where Dick would be able to relate to him better as they were both orphans.

"Why don't you pack a bag and stay a few nights with me?"

Dinah was actually shocked, Batman letting her into his sanctuary, he nodded, "We both know he has become used to both of us. He might need your help but he also needs Robin, something familiar and someone who understands what its like to lose everything. You can always zeta back home if you really need too."

Well, she couldn't fault his logic so she agreed, just a few days with the Dark Knight and Boy Wonder until he was a little more settled.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When Batman first came back from his meeting with the League Dick hadn't expected anything to actually happen. Those meetings went on for hours sometimes and he knew that Bruce got frustrated sometimes and came back cranky however this time he shut him out of the cave, told him to do his homework and no patrol tonight, when he tried to refuse and remind Batman that Robin was his partner Bruce actually told him that Batman wasn't going out tonight so Robin could stay home and rest and catch up with school but he had been suspicious. It usually took something big for him not to patrol which meant that something must have happened with the League and he knew that he wouldn't tell him.

Bruce always said that League business was his business and he never budged on that one but he knew that Wally was wearing down Barry and he was working on Bruce. They were also sure that Roy was bothering Oliver about letting them take the first steps towards the League, they had proven themselves and they all really wanted to be taken seriously to no longer be viewed as just sidekicks and they were getting there but whatever happened, was suspicious and caused him to act kind of strange.

A couple days later, when B was surprisingly around even less he had been basically sworn into secrecy and taken to the Watchtower. Dick sometimes still shivered from the seriousness from his mentor, he couldn't tell Wally or Roy that this place existed, not until their mentors were ready to tell them and the League had deemed it alright. He only knew because of the boy that was on the Watchtower, the one that was fighting for his life and they all believed that having someone close to his age would help. The boy was only a year older than him and he had been torn from his entire universe by his mentor, trying to give him a chance to live, to survive the destruction of their entire universe and the boy was half-ghost of all things, now Dick had seen some pretty impossible things but seriously half ghost? How does someone half die?

Dick wasn't so sure what to think about the whole half ghost thing but then he saw his eyes turn from blue to green and he spoke basically in riddles until the first week was over. Dick thought Alfred was bad about sleeping and eating and being healthy and not getting hurt, Danny was on a whole new level entirely. Danny wasn't in the best shape when he arrived so the League was keeping him well fed and almost always snacking, he had taken to sharing all his food with Dick and ensuring that he slept for at least four hours every night. It was also hilarious when he got B to sleep and eat as well.

He was also very tactile and for a person who grew up in the circus and missed cuddles, Danny gave him a whole lot cuddles. One day when he commented about it Danny blushed and stammered, "It's a ghost thing, we have the ability to kind of scent people and places with our ecto energy. Every ghost has a different ecto signature, like a fingerprint and when we claim something it becomes ours so we spread our energy over it. Sam said it was like an animal marking their territory. It doesn't really do anything, I get the vague sense of when you're danger but nothing else."

Dick was very interested in understanding Danny, "So ghosts have their own like rules and traditions?"

Danny nodded, "You could think of us as a different species I guess, many could mimic humans and their emotions, they could also understand humanity's traditions or at the very least respect it even if they didn't understand it some were so old that they believed themselves to be Gods. Some didn't look human, most didn't actually, I had a friend that looked like a 7' tall wolf complete with claws and fangs but he could speak, well he spoke an old dead language but he was sentient and very kind."

Dick had been amazed by some of his stories about the ghosts that he had met, beings that had total control on plants, he told Danny about Poison Ivy, a ghost of weather and dreams, he told Danny about the Joker and Harley and others as he told stories, sometimes he got sad so Dick told him about some of his fights and villains but he was really interested in knowing more about Danny and how his ghost side affected him. He learned that Danny could more or less scent people and areas and he knew if they were in danger sometimes.

"Its not very precise, think more of a 6th sense of sorts. I could also track you, if I tried really hard but the connection isn't strong enough not yet. Sam and I had a really strong connection I could find her anywhere and at any time. She said it was an invasion of privacy."

Danny got a faraway look in his eyes when he spoke of Sam and he did so sparingly but it was always with very obvious affection and Dick just had to ask even though he had already told Danny that he didn't have to tell him or answer anything if he didn't want too. Dick could tell that Danny appreciated being able to talk without knowing that the League had put him up to it for more information a lot of the things that he spoke about were personal or connected to his friends and his sister.

He knew that Dick had also lost his parents when he was much younger and it helped Danny open up when Dick spoke about things that he could remember as well. Dick couldn't help it anymore and one day he asked Danny about his relationship to Sam, it would be bad enough if his friends and family were gone but it would probably be even worse if he had lost a girlfriend as well.

"Sam and I tried dating, the two of us we were friends for many years and we always had a connection to each other. We crushed on each other for months maybe even years and I think we both built up our expectations too much."

Dick didn't understand how something like that was even possible but Danny laughed at him, "Its hard to explain but the thing is when you build something up in your mind its possible that it won't always meet your expectations. Sam and I fizzled out, we agreed on everything and when the game that we were playing finally ended the spark snuffed out. We didn't challenge each other, we were just comfortable, never really going forward but she will always be my first love. She was a very special person, beautiful, strong, she stood by her beliefs and she was loyal an amazing friend and I miss her everyday but she wasn't supposed to be mine and we knew that way before I landed here. We were still best friends though, we wouldn't let anything ruin our friendship."

Dick understood kind of so he asked, "You said something about expectations, what did you expect?"

Danny smiled at him but it was a smile that was filled with sadness and maybe even regret, "I thought we would live happily ever after, like in the stories."

Dick liked Danny, he even thought of him kind of like an older brother. Danny was older than him and he was more experienced than him, maybe not in years but in the things that they had faced and then there was the fact that Danny did it all on his own. Dick had been around when Danny first started stretching his powers and it was kind of amazing to see all of the things that he could do, it was also kind of scary, you never really see a lot of meta humans or even aliens with that many powers even Superman who was invincible, super strength, speed, laser vision, cold breath and could fly couldn't match him the number of powers that he had and he didn't really have a weakness unlike Superman and the whole glowing green rock thing.

When Danny heard about that he just look amused and told him, "Electricity, if something happens or B will probably try and make a contingency if I go insane or mind controlled or whatever reason he needs to put me down my weakness is electricity, another reason it was so hard for me to beat Vlad, I built up a resistance but if you hit me with enough of it I'll lose consciousness and you guys just put me back in the thermos, it's the only prison that can hold me or if you need to kill me just keep hitting me with electricity, it can eventually kill me completely."

Dick was kind of horrified how easily Danny gave up that information and he rolled his eyes at him, "I know you will tell B and he won't let it leak but I have seen a version of myself where I went insane and rampaged the world, I need to know that if I ever lose myself someone will put me down. I don't want to live if I become a monster, I promised them I never would and I am keeping my promises."

Dick just nodded desperately wanting to get rid of the bleak atmosphere that was currently in the room and Danny heard him mutter, 'why electricity?'

Danny frowned and said, "Its what killed me. I was electrocuted by the portal and my heart stopped but the ectoplasm was already in my system and it was a lot more than the little bit of goo that covered Vlad. As Phantom was being formed the electricity somehow restarted my heart at the exact moment that my ghost was forming creating a being both half dead and half alive, the perfect balance. It was the latest theory that we had of how I was created and I think it's the right one."

Dick never wanted to think of the portal or of him being a normal 14 year old with no training or even any idea of what was about to happen being electrocuted to death, it was a painful one something that no one should have ever and to experience and here he was still going even though he had already lost so much.

Dick helped Bruce create a cover for him, a genius child of two scientists who were looking into renewable energy who went deep into hiding because of people who wanted to steal their research. There was a fire in their lab and his parents and his sister died in the fire. It was very much the truth however there was no Jack and Maddie Fenton in this world, Bruce was able to get the identity of a couple of scientists that were looking into other energy sources who dropped off the grid and changed their names, no connections to anyone so Bruce was going to claim them as his parents. There was no one else around to try and disprove his word and then Dick created a trail of pictures and little Easter eggs for the press or police if or when they looked into him.

Then B brought Danny to the manor and with Danny came Dinah even Alfred looked a little stunned at the fact that Bruce let her come here. Dinah was set up in a room near Danny, down the hall from Dick and Bruce. The first few nights there were nightmares, loss of appetite and he visibly became depressed. Dinah revealed that this place was making him a little home sick, realizing that he was here and this was now his home made it finally sink in that he was never going to see his home ever again.

Bruce cleared out a room near Dick's gym which had been filled with all the equipment needed for him to keep up his acrobatics training and it helped him feel more at home. It was something familiar for him that helped him see the manor as his home. He created a lab for Danny, he had already checked the rough plans he was using to make a filter for ecto energy and then he created a lab for him in here where he could work on whatever he wanted (not related to their night time activities) something familiar and he hoped that it would help him feel more at home.

The nasty look Dinah shot him when they realized that he basically moved into the lab was a different story entirely. The first few nights it was up to her to keep Danny's nightmares at bay because Bruce was out with Robin doing the whole dynamic duo thing and Black Canary was not sighted in Star City. To keep her secret identity she slowly stopped showing in Star City until people realized that Green Arrow and his protégé were taking care of the city now that she was no longer there. The press speculated on her disappearance some going so far as to wondering if she died until over a month after Dinah was seen in Wayne Manor, Black Canary was spotted in Gotham City.

It really was an accident but while Robin was taking care of a bank robbery and Batman was chasing after Black Mask, the Joker broke out of Arkham, caused a riot, stole a car and went on a murdering spree while Dinah was out getting some ice cream. She could have sent Alfred but he was busy in the cave so she took a car and as she was walking back to her car the Joker pealed in, she changed quickly and engaged but it wasn't long before Batman appeared and basically growled at her. He handed her a comm piece and punched the Joker so hard she heard his nose break.

"Stay away from Joker, Black Mask is heading North, you get him and Robin will meet up with you. Meet back at the cave."

The next day the press was wondering why Black Canary was in Gotham, it was well known that Batman didn't like meta humans in his city, he barely let other Leaguers inside it when he had too but she was also seen at three other times within the week, thanks to the riot caused by the Joker nearly all the inmates escaped and Batman needed all the help he could get. It was also the first time that they had seen Danny transform fully into Phantom.

When the light show was over Danny stared at his costume, it was different, he knew that the suit always repaired itself but Clockwork told him as he grew his ghostly side would adapt to any permanent changes to his psych which was why Dan looked the way he did, the suit matched him at the time.

Danny was wearing a pitch black cloak and a hood that covered his head. Everything else about him was the same except for the cloak and the DP symbol seemed to be fainter, the suit was still adapting, as he was not yet done changing from this life changing experience.

Danny watched out for Canary, Batman had Robin he didn't need any more help than him. Danny limited his powers, he flew and hit hard and fast and then turned invisible but they didn't know what powers he was using. The managed to get Gotham back under control in three days when it probably would have taken the two of them at least a week. Dick had been grateful and Danny was different afterwards, in better health, patrolling was something that they realized he would need to do, part of his obsession was to protect and he needed to do so, keeping him locked away wasn't helping him adjust and recover.

Dinah was currently in Bruce Wayne's study at home, it was also a place that she never pictured herself in, when she had met Batman nearly every woman who met him was taken in by the mysterious, strong silent type of vibe that he had going. She was sure that Diana also had a little crush on him but for most of them they got over it in a few weeks when they realized that he was all business. Some of the newer Leaguers thought him cold and they all felt intimidated by him unlike the others like Flash and Superman that they eventually managed to get over the whole star struck moments but with Batman getting close to him was very nearly impossible yet here she was with the man underneath the cowl and she had to admit she liked what she saw.

He so obviously cared for both of the boys that he was basically adopting and she knew that she was going to have to broach the subject with him soon. He didn't convey his emotions well and she noticed that sometimes Dick seemed a little unsure, the moments were brief but it was something that she picked up due to her training as a psychologist, being the ward of Bruce Wayne didn't mean the same thing as being his son and sometimes he doubted his place. She was shocked that he had taken so well to Danny but that was probably because he was able to meet him and form a connection. She also knew that he would likely take on other protégés, he was someone who wanted a family and he would probably find another orphan to take in when Dick took flight but she also had a feeling that he wasn't seeing things very clearly so it was time for a little chat about both his wards which was why she was waiting here for him while Danny tinkered in his lab and Dick was at a friends house doing homework, Barbara she believed.

"Dinah what are you doing here?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, "You did invite me to stay Bruce."

He sighed at her sarcasm, "You shouldn't hang around Alfred so much, you're starting to pick up his special type of wit."

"Are you going to adopt Danny?" she asked and Bruce froze, that was something that he might have thought of similar to how he thought of approaching Dick with the same offer but he never actually did it, he could just foster them both and he told her so and then he felt the headache approaching as she frowned at him.

"Leaving Danny out of the equation Bruce, why haven't you done this with Dick?"

Dinah nearly got up and left, he didn't look at her, just kept on going through whatever work was on his desk and she was sure that he wasn't going to answer or tell her that she was poking her nose where it didn't belong but he did answer after nearly 20 minutes.

"When Dick first came here I didn't plan for him to be Robin or any of it. I just saw a boy so similar to myself and I thought I could help I had the space and the money. I promised him I wouldn't try and replace his father, how could I. My own father was gone and I could barely remember him, I didn't have a wife or a family, all I could offer was shelter, training and justice. I told him I would be his teacher, mentor and asking to adopt him, that's me breaking my word."

Dinah understood where he was coming from, she did but he didn't understand that with time things changed, "Bruce, you promised a grieving 8 year old boy that you wouldn't try and replace his father and you have to realize that you didn't do that. You gave him another parent, there is no-where on this world or any other that says that only blood is family or that a child only has two parents. You reassured a scared grieving child that you were not going to steal his fathers place or the love he had in his heart for his father but you have to know that you just made your own place in his heart. You are the only father he has left and being his ward, it means that you can give him away, that he isn't really family and it isn't what he needs. Talk to him, let him now he can refuse but you offer because you want too because he is your son."

"Why is it so important?" asked Bruce and Dinah sighed.

"He is growing Bruce, soon he is going to want to see how far he can fly on his own and if you don't give him space and reassurance then the relationship you two share will crumble. Communication is the only way to avoid misunderstandings and as far as he will go, right now he is just a teenager looking for his place in this world both in the mask and out of it. You need to let him know that this is his home, he is your son and no matter where he goes, how high he climbs or how hard he falls he can always come back here, that you will welcome him home. He can't be Robin forever and maybe you should let him know that. They don't want to be known as sidekicks Bruce, we call them protégés but one day they will take up their own mantles. You need to be prepared for him leaving the nest and you need to support him maybe even think about whether or not the mantle of Robin should be passed or not."

Bruce nodded once sharply and Dinah left him to his thoughts however before she could reach her room, Alfred stopped her and she smiled at him.

"Thank you Miss Dinah."

She frowned, "For what?"

Alfred took both of her hands in his, "Talking to him, helping him understand. I have tried in the past to help him bridge the gap but I was unable to get him to consider it. You have managed to get through to him and I believe he will now take action. He has for too long only looked at the present not really considering the future and now he has no choice but to do so. Thank you."

Dinah watched him leave and she smiled, well at least someone believed she was doing something right and then she bit her lip, she didn't get to talk to Bruce about Danny. She would have to speak to him again tomorrow about his future and what they were going to do.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Im gonna leave megan alone for S1 but when my timeline reaches S2 I'm not letting them back together. Suberboy just deserves better than that.

I don't know if in YJ there was Batfamily drama with the whole B firing Dick from being Robin and he became Nightwing and then Jason died and they all stopped acting like asses so I'm gonna resolve all that now.

Chapter 4

Bruce Wayne sighed, he was tired and now that Dinah had brought up some pretty important questions he realized that he couldn't lie to himself anymore. He had no idea why he brought Dick here after his parents fell but there was just so much of the boy that he could see in himself and he checked on the conditions he was living in, it was unacceptable and he was already running around trying to find his parents killer. He hoped that he could help him and he would stop but then Dinah came along and he realized that he was being naïve, to believe that Dick would just hang up the cape and the tights and then go to college, find a nice girl and get married. That was the path that once upon a time he had looked towards and one he had turned his back on willingly but Dick was a child, was it really fair for him to dedicate his entire life to this? Was it even fair of him to ask these questions now when he had already come so close to death so many times?

If he was being very honest then he knew that Dick wouldn't be able to give it up, he and his friends they set their sights upon the Justice League and while it was possible that they could still retire, he didn't think Dick would ever give it up and could he really ask a grown man to stand in his shadow? It wasn't right, he would want to make his own name, define himself without Batman and he would have to allow him to do so even though he wished that he would give it up. Dinah was right he was going to have to talk to Dick and it was going to involve emotions and just thinking of it tired him out but it was important so he was going to try.

He knocked on Dicks door at 8am, an hour before Alfred usually woke him up. He wanted to do this in relative privacy and seeing a sleepy eyed teen it melted his heart and made him want to hide him away from the world. He was going to be a heartbreaker and his head throbbed, he was going to end up in some sort of scandal every week when he actually gave in and dated and it would do wonders for his already bad reputation, well at least he would have a good cover and it would maintain his own.

"What's goin' on B?" he yawned and Bruce made him sit at his desk while he sat on the bed.

"We needed to talk about some things that Dinah helped me realize and I wanted to ask you something but Dick I need you to just listen alright? Don't say anything just listen and think about it and later today come see me in my office when you have some answers and even if you need more time then that's okay as well."

Dick was actually getting worried, this seemed really important so he sat down and nodded, "Alright."

"I never wanted you to be Robin." And Dick stood up angrily and cried out, "You're firing me!"

Bruce rolled his eyes, teenagers had tantrums as well, he thought that only happened with toddlers.

"I am not firing you, just calm down and listen."

Dick settled down again and this time he looked even more worried, "Many of the Leaguers Superman and Wonder Woman mostly asked me many times if I was sure about bringing a child into this life, one that is filled with violence and bloodshed, where sometimes you watch as your friends and family sacrifice themselves for you or innocents and I always told them that you could handle it because a part of me hoped that one day you would willingly give up the cape and go to college, be normal again, have a family. That was the path in life that I chose to willingly walk away from but Dinah made me realize that I was being foolish. You don't want to give up this life and if I tried to force you then I would probably lose you. I don't want that to happen but one day you will willingly let go of being Robin, Batman's partner and protégé and take up your own mantle, become your own man and when that happens I don't know if I would be able to handle this myself. Batman needs a Robin now."

Dick stopped him, "Are you saying that when I choose to become someone else you want another Robin?"

Bruce shrugged, "I don't know who but it would be nice, not now Dick but in a couple of years when you are trying to make a name for yourself, becoming your own man I don't want to be left alone in this manor again. Danny is already his own Hero and soon you too will rise. I always wanted to fill this manor with children and when I decided not to get married I thought it would remain a dream but you made me realize that I could still have that, I already think of you as my son and you have been here for years as my ward and I would like to officially adopt you but that is also your choice."

Dick's mind had shut off when Bruce asked to adopt him but he was still talking, "I told you I wouldn't replace your father and I can't but I still think of you as my son and I want you to know that this is your home no matter what happens."

Bruce left the room and Dick just stared at nothing until Alfred called for breakfast, afterwards he went looking for Dinah because he had no idea what was going on.

"What did you do to him? Is he being controlled?"

Dinah looked up from the book she was reading with a look of amusement on her face, "What happened?"

When Dick was done talking she laughed, "Well I am glad that he listened."

"What do you mean listened?" asked Dick.

"Dick I know this must be overwhelming but you have to understand that just because he doesn't show it doesn't mean he doesn't feel it. He doesn't know how to be a father but he does love you and he doesn't want to hurt you by pushing for something that he doesn't think you would want. You all have said repeatedly that you want more recognition for your acts and towards yourselves, tell me how long do you really think you're going to be able to be alright with being seen as Batman's sidekick?"

Dick clenched his jaw and Dinah pointed it out, "You hate the word and I can understand why. All I did was make him see that Robin wouldn't be the boy wonder for much longer, he would become a man looking to make his own mark on this world independent from his mentor and there is nothing wrong with that but when it happens he needs to consider whether he is going to be able to work alone or not. This is a big house and when you go off to college and Danny figures himself out, you both will leave him here with a butler and lots of empty space. Lonely isn't it?"

Dick nodded, he could picture it actually, packing up for college and B would smile and wave, maybe Danny would get a job as a scientist somewhere and leave and B would be here all alone with Alfred with no one to watch his back on patrol and it nearly broke his heart just thinking of that. As a child when he first saw this place the first thing that had come to his mind was that it probably was an incredibly lonely place to grow up all alone and then he found out about Batman and realized that he had basically no one, the world saw 'Brucie' or Batman but they never saw the person underneath the masks. Dick had filled this place with laughter and colour and he knew that Alfred had been overjoyed to see that Bruce had someone to take care off.

"You think he should get another Robin?" he asked her and Dinah raised an eyebrow.

"I think that's up to you, its your mantle, your name, maybe when you're ready to start making your own name you can help him find someone that you would be willing to give it up too. Its not now Dick but something to think about in the future."

Dick met up with Danny in his lab and even though he seemed tired, he seemed to be really happy and as soon as he saw Dick he smiled and waved him over, "I think I almost got all the bugs worked out of the filter and if this works then we can take it to B and see what will happen next."

Dick looked around at all the clutter in the lab, Danny had a messy system but he did have one even though he had no idea what the system even was, there were half-finished items everywhere, with plans taking up nearly every square inch, Alfred would probably strangle him if he saw it.

"What's with you?" asked Danny and Dick looked up in surprise with a 'huh' and Danny sighed.

"You've sat in the corner quietly for almost an hour while I worked and you never do that so what's with you?"

"B offered to adopt me."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "And?"

"Its just sudden."

Danny laughed at him until he realized that this really was stressing him out and he sighed, "When I first met Vlad I actually liked him. My parents were busy all the time with either inventing things, hunting ghosts or praising Jazz. Don't get me wrong I know they loved me and they cared but I was a very over looked child. Vlad saw me, he noticed I was just as intelligent as my sister even if I didn't try as hard as she did, he saw my potential and he wanted to be my mentor and I wanted to learn from him. Then I realized that he wanted me to be his son, he wanted me to disown my father to forget him completely and choose him. He was insane, obsessive and it was such a letdown. The only other person in this world with the same powers as me and he was a fruit loop. He wanted to take the place of my father but if he offered to be my teacher, friend or uncle we probably could have developed a bond similar to you and Bruce. If he wanted to actually just help me I could have possibly seen him as a second father but he didn't want that, he wanted to replace my father."

Dick raised an eyebrow, "What does this have to do with me?"

Danny threw a rolled up paper at him, "B isn't demanding to be your father idiot. He told you he would be your mentor and a guide and the two of you created a father-son bond all on your own. It wasn't forced like how Vlad was trying to force me and you were the one who said that he is the only father figure you have left and here he is telling you that he sees you as his son. Accepting him won't change your blood, it won't change everything what you shared with your parents but your dad is gone now and you have someone willing to stand in and be your father, telling you that you always have a place here that you are his son and he loves you."

Dick didn't want to think about all this anymore, it was all a bit too much too soon, he needed more time to process but something that Danny said was nagging at him, "Didn't your parents know about your powers?"

Danny stopped tinkering with his project and sighed, "No, they were ghost hunters Dick. They both had this idea that ghosts didn't feel anything that they were all evil and they should be destroyed. I knew that they would have accepted me eventually but the truth was for a long time I was worried that they wouldn't so I never told them."

Dick had to ask, he sounded so sad when he spoke of his parents, "Did they hurt you?"

Danny laughed, "They hunted Phantom, most of their weapons always somehow managed to find me and they almost always didn't work right, they were brilliant scientists but they were also very absent minded and kind of clumsy but no they didn't hurt me. I knew if I told them they would accept me but I was scared and I didn't want to take the chance and another part of me didn't want them to worry about me."

Dick frowned, "How could they have not noticed? You must have been gone or injured or something."

Danny just shrugged, "I got in trouble a lot you know missed curfew, detentions, missing homework, dropping in grades but my friends and sister covered for me a lot. They made excuses, helped patch me up, yeah you could say they weren't around much but they did care. I went fishing with my dad and camping with my mom, I just kept half of my life secret from them."

Dick just stared at him, he couldn't imagine a world where you had to hide half of your life from your parents then again his guardian was the one who trained him to fight crime, and he knew that B worried over him when he got hurt. He did sometimes wonder whether or not he belonged here in Wayne Manor, he was just Bruce Wayne's ward, and he wasn't his blood son or even his adopted son, there were always whispers that one day Bruce would just kick him out or when he turned 18 they didn't expect him to come back. He mostly ignored them, they didn't know all of their secrets but now looking to the future when he would probably give up being Robin and decide to create his own name he wanted to know that he could always come back home to his father. He needed the reassurance that they were a family even if it was just the two of them.

A few days later when the adoption had officially gone through and Dick was officially Richard Grayson-Wayne Dinah once more approached the study this time to talk to Bruce about his other ward.

"You did well." She said and Bruce poured her a drink.

"I wouldn't have made this decision if it hadn't been for you and it has helped. Things are different but a good different."

Dinah sipped her drink and smiled, "Glad I could help but we still need to talk about Danny."

Bruce showed her some plans of his desk, "He managed to finish working out the bugs to the filter and somehow built and entire machine capable of pulling ectoplasm from the air and turning it into energy while the filter system in place keeps it all running smoothly."

Dinah took a moment to be impressed and shocked, she knew he was intelligent but this was a whole new level. She thought the plans he would make would be from memory and basic, that several others would have to work on the machine before being able to get something like this but it was obvious that Danny had a very deep understanding of his parents technology.

"What did you want to talk about Dinah?"

She was snapped out of her wondering thoughts and smiled at him sheepishly, "He needs to go school Bruce. The records you made say that he was home schooled however when this gets out, that he was able to create something like this, they're going to have questions. Maybe you should enroll him into college or something, he is obviously a very gifted 15 year old and he needs more social interaction, a life outside the manor and his patrol schedule."

Bruce agreed with her and the next day Danny saw both of his mentors walk into his lab he fought the urge to turn invisible and flee, this seemed like one of those very important talks that adults want to have to ensure that their charge is alright. Dinah seemed to notice the panicked look on his face and she smiled softly at him, trying to reassure him.

"Calm down, nothing is wrong its just we wanted to know if you would rather go to high school or university."

Danny once more cocked his head, "I don't have any money for all that, isn't that why you guys gave me access to the lab? So I can create something to earn a living?"

Bruce seemed a little thunderstruck at that while Dinah just sighed, she should have known he would feel like they were still doing this out of an obligation because they found the thermos.

"Danny, I got you the lab so you would feel a little more at home, something familiar and so that you have your own space. I already told you I would foster you but that was because I didn't want to push you into adoption. You already had one mentor try to force you to renounce your father and I didn't want you to see me the same way. One day if you're ready I would adopt you but Dinah is your mentor and she would adopt you as well, I just have more resources and more money than I know what to do with so the process is easier for me but we don't have to do that either. You aren't a burden, you're family now. There is more to life than fighting crime and working in here and socializing would be good for you with these plans it will be easy to get you into some science classes at a university or you could go to High School, its your choice."

Danny was shocked he hadn't really thought that they saw him as family until now and then he made a funny face when thinking of school, just no. He did the whole school thing, it was tiring, he would rather take some courses in science and robotics and actually be able to apply the things he was learning to his experiments. He tabled the whole adoption thing and he was glad that neither of them pushed, he wasn't ready for something like that but for now he could just deal with the whole family thing and then he grinned.

"If we're a family then B is the dad, Dick is the little brother so does that make Dinah our mother?"

Bruce's eyes widened and Dinah blushed and before either could respond he phased through the floor and went to find Dick and tell him what happened, glad to be rid of the depressing atmosphere.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: I don't really like Wally no offense to his fans but he just kind of rubbed me the wrong way. He seemed very irresponsible and more interested in chasing after girls than the actual mission like when he nearly got them killed trying to impress Miss Martian and he was very closed minded. I don't even like how Wally and Dick were considered best friends, he was older than him and I just saw him as very selfish, I know a lot of people like him and I will be honest I don't have some huge problem with him like with Miss Martian, he just rubs me the wrong way, its why i paired artemis with danny.

Chapter 5

Dick knew that even though they were going to the Hall of Justice they were not going to be going to the Watchtower, they still had more tests or maybe it was to see how they dealt with the pressure. The media attention, Batman and the rest of the League always made the public aware of as much as possible so that they could keep their secrets. The more the public thought they knew the more they trusted the league even though the secrets they kept was for public protection.

Robin, Kid Flash, Speedy and Aqualad were all going to the Hall of Justice it was also a message to the people. These were their protégés the people who might one day take their places in the League should the need ever arise and they were no longer hiding them in shadows like they did when all first started, no longer hiding behind the capes of their mentors but he wasn't sure what would come after. This was all just a visit inside of the Hall of Justice.

Dick had also asked why Danny wouldn't be there and Bruce sighed, sometimes he wondered how he would have survived if he had adopted Danny sooner, like when Dick was a hyper 12 year old that liked to swing on the chandelier, he was sure he still did it but had just gotten better at hiding it but the point was that Danny and Dick together were a very scary team. The boys really had bonded and at first he had assumed that Wally had been enough for Dick but then Bruce realized that he had also adopted Danny, Wally understood the hero life but not all the sacrifices, he still had both his parents and he lived in Central City. The rouges there, they wouldn't really hurt him, they weren't really murderers, thieves mostly and the others and most of them made friends with Kid Flash. Wally, he knew death but people like Dick, Danny and Bruce they lived it.

They knew loss and sacrifice and then there were the media circus around the fact that he now had two heirs to the family fortune even though he knew neither boy cared and then Danny basically made himself a billionaire with his ecto energy filtration device and he put it under his company. The patent was named Fenton however the company that was installing, selling and basically dealing with every other major company in the world was Wayne Industries and Bruce actually just gave in and face palmed because he was sure that when they totaled the profits in the next couple months he was going to be the world's first Trillionaire and he was really hoping that wouldn't be true because the media would eat them alive if it happened.

However getting back to the point was that, Wally was someone that Dick could talk too and he did help but he wasn't someone who understood and Danny he understood Dick. The two boys were thicker than thieves because they both went through similar experiences and dealt with the same type of issues and while Wally would listen and always be willing to try and help Dick lighten weight of the burdens he bore, he couldn't understand them and Dick didn't want to him too because that would mean his friend would lose the people who meant the world to him and he didn't wish that not on anyone.

Gotham was darker than the other cities, they dealt with mostly the insane, the deranged and the dangerous, things that Kid Flash couldn't understand because he didn't live in a place like Gotham but that was alright because Wally helped take his mind of all the bad and reminded him of all the good things still out there. Wally was a good friend but Danny had managed to become Dick's brother and that was something that no one could change.

Black Canary made sure no one spoke of Danny and after Batman took him off the Watchtower many assumed that they wouldn't see the boy again. The only ones who knew that he was now Black Canary's protégé was Superman, Green Arrow, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman and Batman. He went by the name Phantom when in ghost form and he was absolutely not coming to meet the rest of the protégés. He didn't need the world to know about him and he was happy in the shadows, he also had a class on robotics and a meeting with Lucius about his work so he was going to be running around Gotham in his human form while Dick did whatever he was up too.

Then his left eye started twitching and he just knew that it was because Dick had somehow gotten into some sort of trouble. The past few months he was able to track Robin and he was getting better at sensing when he was in danger. He had also gotten used to things like this happening, when Dick was out as Robin he was always in danger but slowly the feeling got worse and then he got a call from B saying telling him what happened with Roy and that the rest of them were missing.

Danny could admit to himself that ever since he had come here, he was a little over protective of what was his. His family here in this universe was made up of B, Dinah, Dick and Alfred, it was a small circle and he didn't let people close he knew it too but he was happy with the people that he had and he knows he tends to mother them a bit but when they're in danger, when he could lose someone after everything that he had already lost he knew he could be a little scary.

He was able to access most of his powers without turning full ghost, so he pulled on a black and white version of the Robin suit with the DP symbol where Dick R symbol is and flew to where he had managed to track his baby brother too and phased through the walls looking for him just in time to see a 8' tall monster tearing the room apart while Kid Flash seemed to distract him. Then KF tripped and Dick called out for his friend and Danny rolled his eyes, turned visible and punched the monster person through two walls bringing down the entire building, he grabbed everyone he could and phased them through all the rubble.

Then the League showed up and somehow he was involved until Black Canary stepped forward and raised an eyebrow at him while Kid Flash muttered, "We don't know him, he showed up and punched the Doc in the face though."

Dick rolled his eyes and Black Canary raised an eyebrow, "B said he was missing and in danger. I went running whatever they did, they managed it themselves."

After Superboy made his big declaration to 'get on board or get out of the way' Danny noticed B's jaw clenched and he sighed, he really didn't want to become known not anyone not even the other heroes.

"B we talked about this. They need more experience, dealing with people that aren't their mentors, making their own mistakes and learning from them. One day they expect to be ready to join the League, they need to work with other people in other environments and you know they're ready. You can't protect them from this life forever."

Danny went back home before the dynamic duo and Dinah would be around tomorrow as well. She stayed at the manor mostly but she sometimes went back to Star City, she still had her apartment there. She already made plans to close her practice as she was hardly ever there anymore. She was also looking for work in Gotham and while Bruce told her that she didn't need too, they all knew that Dinah and Bruce weren't just friends anymore and that while she was living with him, he would support her but she wasn't ready to just stop working and spend her time between the boys, Bruce and their nightly activities. Black Canary was now a normal sight in Gotham and she was shocked at the sheer amount of villains in this city. She was amazed that he managed to carry Gotham by himself for so long.

A couple days later Dick was begging for Danny to come with him to wherever Bruce was taking them. Danny wasn't so sure he would be welcome, he wasn't really someone that could work on a team and he told Dick that but Dick was stubborn. He was sure that there were things that Danny could teach them even if he didn't want to join their team in the end it was Bruce that convinced Danny to go.

After meeting Miss Martian for the first time Danny stepped into the cave as well. He wore the same glasses as Dick but he was wearing black jeans and a grey sweater. He felt everyone on the place freeze and he smiled or at least he tried. Danny was exhausted, his hair was messy and he had bags under his eyes, one of his experiments went wrong and he spent the whole night fixing it until he realized it was no longer night and he was going to be late.

Black Canary smiled at him though, "This is Phantom, my protégé. He isn't joining the team but he will be here to help you guys as a sparring partner or even for some advice."

Aqualad frowned and when the Leaguers had left he asked, "Why are you not joining the team?"

Danny yawned and slouched against the kitchen counter, "You guys have been trained for a long time before you got experience, I didn't have anyone to help me for a long time and then I ended up here. Canary agreed to help polish my skills but I already have all the experience I need. They don't want me to join the League because of my age but this team won't learn if you have me around to fall back on."

Kid Flash got angry this kid was his age and they never even heard of Phantom before and suddenly he thought he was better than them. He smirked and zoomed forward to try and tackle him. That would show him that he wasn't so much better than them and take him by surprise but KF went through Danny and the counter and hit the cupboards on the other side and Danny chuckled.

"Rookie mistake, engaging an enemy you know nothing about. Look, I'm not trying to insult you guys but you have to realize how much responsibility you guys have now taken up."

Aqualad was calmer and he wanted to try and understand what their mentors believed that they could learn from someone they had never heard of, he was not so hot headed that he would over look something like this, it could even be another test, to see how they react to someone who they do not know, to see whether they are able to tell if he is lying to them or not.

"What do you mean responsibility?" he asked and he also knew that the others were paying attention.

"The creation of this covert team means more than you have realized. Firstly it gives you recognition for your abilities and at the same time it puts you all under a microscope. The League will now monitor you closely, your successes and failures and if you fail in a large way then there could be possible political consequences. It is also a measure of trust that you will not tarnish their names. Then there is the possibility of new recruits, others who are out there on their own trying to make a name for themselves, people who had been passed over to the League can be placed here and monitored until eventually being admitted to the League. This has become a testing ground, when you have been deemed ready from here to go on and join the League. It also shows those Leaguers who weren't happy that children had donned masks that even without their mentors they can be heroes and with proper guidance they can become great. They can see for themselves how you have grown. While no one will be able to know of this teams existence, the League knows and that alone puts a burden on your shoulder, proving that you are capable."

Danny turned around, took out some stuff and started working on something that no one could really tell what it was while everything that he had told them sunk in, they really didn't know what they were getting into when they all but demanded that this team be created however they weren't going to run away just because they knew that their actions would be judged harshly they knew were here to prove themselves and they weren't going to be intimidated.

"You should all get to know each other, your powers and abilities, strengths and weaknesses. It will give you guys an idea of how you can work together when you guys do go into the field."

The next time Danny sees the team he learns that they all made mistakes when they encountered Mr. Twister. Danny spoke to Dick mostly about what went wrong and since they all learned from the encounter he let it go, they were learning as they went along for now that was enough. The team was actually doing very well in the way that they handled their first mission even going so far as to choosing a leader that they could all follow and one that they had chosen based on how well the person led, they were all making good choices and Danny was starting to wonder if he would even be needed here, they seemed to be coming together fine.

After the battle with Amazo Danny went to talk to Superboy, he had calmed down but the nonexistent relationship was really messing with his head and he wasn't in control of his power and that was something that could be dangerous.

"I had a clone in my world, the process didn't go right and she ended up being a girl but I do understand."

"Your world? Clone?"

Danny smiled, he wasn't very close to the team so they didn't know much about him, "My mentor sent me here when the government launched a missile that ended up killing my world. He was trying to save me and she died along with all the others. I wasn't pleased at first, it was a huge violation and I was only 14 years old and there was suddenly this person who shared my DNA that I didn't ask for or want. He is being an ass and soon he will it, I know it isn't fair to you but he needs to process as well and I am not here to make excuses for him, I came to offer help with your powers until he pulls his head out of his ass."

Superboy looked at him oddly and Danny pulled him to the training mats, "Punch my hand, all your strength."

The rest of the team gathered around a little shocked and Dick nodded so he did so and Danny caught his hand and smiled, "That actually did hurt, not bad, you managed to move me back two steps."

Superboy just looked at him, "What are you?"

Danny laughed, "You guys are strong but there are others out there that can take your punches, I happen to be one of them."

Danny handed him a bag of apples and smiled, "Each apple is one of your human friends, you know the ones that can break easily, your first task is to keep one in your hand the whole day without damaging it. If you do then you have broken a bone of one of your team mates by accident. It will help, promise."

The team watched in shock as for the next few days Superboy concentrated on not breaking the apples and surprisingly it did help him when he was moving around. He was only out of the pod for a few weeks, he had broken a lot of things because he didn't realize how strong he was and now with an apple in his hand at all times, he figured it out.

It also helped the team view Danny differently, he wasn't around much, mostly he came after missions, listened to the briefings and asked a few questions and then nodded but he didn't really help them and Wally pointed it out a few times, that he wasn't really doing anything and one day Danny heard him and sighed so loud they all heard him.

"One of the most important things for you to learn is independence. I am here and I will help if I see the need, so far every problem that you have come across you were all able to find the solutions on your own without someone holding your hand so I didn't interfere but then Superman decided to bury his head in the sand and someone needed to help Superboy with control so I did."

Miss Martian smiled brightly at him and nodded her head, "What other advice do you have?" she asked and Danny looked at Kaldur.

"You should continue you study of Atlantean magic. I know you left to become Aqualad however I am sure that if you spoke to Queen Mera she could find a way for you to learn, it might take longer but I do not see the reason why you should limit yourself when you are here you can practice. Other than that, you have all been progressing well and gaining experience. That is all anyone can ask for, if you want to spar I'm available when I'm here."

Dick was glad that Danny was finally willing to open up a bit to the team, they might not fight together but Danny was needed here. He knew that Danny spoke to League on the behalf of the team even if they didn't know it, making sure they understood where they were coming from and advising them on what they could and couldn't handle.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Dinah was tired both physically and mentally. These past few months had been some of the most demanding times in her life not just because she was dealing with a teenager who had lost everything and was so desperately trying to piece his world back together by holding onto threads. She had been let into the Bat cave a place that many of the Leaguers didn't know. The fact just was that Batman was one of their most mysterious members and they did trust him, he just didn't trust them, not completely.

Many of the newer members of the League were shocked that he allowed a child by his side and many had no idea what the relationship between the two were, very few knew that Robin was his son. As a woman who had once crushed on Batman she actually found that she thought it was really silly in hindsight. She liked the mystery, the shadows and aura of danger the same way a teenage girl would fall for a bad boy but there was so much more to him and now that she was basically sharing custody of a teenager with him, she found herself falling in love with him.

This wasn't dreams and fantasies, this was real, she wanted to help him shoulder his burdens, to help him understand that even though his parents were gone he had managed to make a family and she was so proud of the amount of strength that he showed. He was a little work obsessed but at the same time, she was not a woman that needed a lot of attention, not really. Dinah liked to stand alone, to go about her life but at the end of the day when she came home to a table with Alfred there and Danny and Dick and Bruce, that was enough. She wasn't some silly girl that dreamed of being romanced, that wasn't who she was but she was someone who was able to see that a person cared in the little ways that they treated her.

He would never stop his crusade and settle down to have a family with her but that wasn't something she had ever dreamed off, she always wanted to follow in her mothers footsteps, she knew logically that if she did so it was likely that she wouldn't have a child and the white picket fence deal but if he could have a son then why couldn't he have someone to share his life with?

She could take care of herself in both of his worlds, she wasn't a pretty flower that would need to be coddled and protected. They could make it work if they really tried and they had been dancing around each other since March after Danny called her 'mom' jokingly. There was something there between them and she wasn't going to just let it go. She was willing to fight to keep her place at his side and if she had too then she would fight against his stubbornness as well.

Bruce was spinning and he had been ever since Danny had showed up. There was an entire other multiverse that had ended one that was connected to a different type of ghost than the few he had encountered and then there was a half dead teenager that had imprinted on him of all people. He had to admit though that it was nice to have Danny around, the boy was able to understand him a lot better than Dick. He didn't mean anything bad it was just that Dick was the type of person that needed communication and he knew that he wasn't able to talk and convey his emotions to his adopted his son and that often caused misunderstandings between them.

The communication thing wasn't really a problem right now, Dick was still young but like Dinah said he would eventually get older and end up frustrated with him and he didn't want to think about how bad their fall out could have been if he hadn't taken her advice but Danny was different. He was able to understand him without a word or action and he was able to make Dick understand without him having to say anything.

Then there was Dinah, she was not part of the plan not at first. He was the one who told her she could stay but he thought it would be for a week or maybe a month at the most, he assumed by then Danny wouldn't need Dinah around constantly however the opposite proved to be true. He needed her and Bruce had slowly come to depend on her advice. He knew that Alfred liked her and was glad that she was sticking around and then the media decided to let the world know that Black Canary was now located in Gotham.

It was bad enough that the press thought that 'Brucie' was finally settling down, he got a slight headache at the thought of what he would have to do to maintain his secret identity but when they weren't talking about the 'White Knight' of Gotham City then they were talking about the 'Dark Knight' of Gotham. It was well known throughout the world that Batman and Robin did not allow other heroes into Gotham nor did he let meta humans run around, the people in the city could count the number of times that the Justice League was allowed into the city and then it was only for a major crisis, like the world ending type which was the reason why there was speculation that Black Canary had married Batman. Dick and Danny had framed the article in their rooms, Bruce sighed and Dinah rolled her eyes.

Bruce knew that he was on a slippery slope when it came to her, it was easy to ignore her crush when it was meaningless however they were basically parenting together, living together and spending all their time both day and night, in and out of their masks together, he had somehow come to realize that he was depending on her a lot, trusting her to watch his back. It was dangerous for him to get close to her, loving someone with the life that he led never ended well.

He loved Selina with his whole heart and he knew that she had loved him but not even she was able to be with him while he lived this life and he doubted that she would be able to stick around as well. He had loved Talia and she had chosen her Father over him. He just wasn't capable of giving her forever and he believed that it would be for the best that she returned home before things between them went any deeper before they took pieces of each other that they wouldn't be able to give back and then he told her to leave instead Dinah sat down and raised an eyebrow. Bruce sighed and spoke again, "We shouldn't be doing this."

Dinah folded her arms, "We aren't even doing anything yet."

Bruce wanted to punch something or someone so he responded in clipped tones, "You think you know what you want but you don't and eventually you will leave and we shouldn't complicate things."

Dinah rolled her eyes, "Bruce I know you're worried but here is a little newsflash every person that ever enters a relationship worries about failure and while I will agree that the stakes that we face are higher like the fact that we won't work out and the relationship will end or one of us could die. We both wear masks Bruce, we will always make the choice to sacrifice our lives even knowing that there are people we leave behind so yes there is a chance that this will end badly but we live our lives walking the line of death every day and I for one want to be with the person who makes me happy for as long as I can."

Bruce knew that logically she was telling him the truth but he couldn't do it, he couldn't just let a woman into his life, someone that could make him vulnerable. He didn't want to lose yet another person that he loved and he knew that eventually she would change her mind and she would leave him.

Dinah frowned at him when he said nothing and she knew what he was thinking, "Your whole life you have strived for control but you can't control how another person feels which also means that while you can never be sure that I will never leave you also cannot tell me how I feel, I love you and I choose to stay, you cannot change that and I cannot force you to accept my feelings but you need to know as long as you are willing to try with me I will stay."

Neither of them said anything for a little while until Bruce finally spoke again, "As long as we're willing to try and make it work you'll stay?"

Dinah nodded and that was the beginning of their relationship nearly four months ago, they managed to keep it secret from the boys for two months until they were caught and then the media found out and Alfred was the one left to come up with some sort of excuse for the reason that the 'Brucie' mask was falling. The truth was that when Bruce first went away to train at the age of 17, everyone had high hopes for the Wayne Heir but when he returned, he was 22 years old and he was ready to become the Batman.

There had been rumours that when he went away he saw something that changed him, that made him lose all ambition and turned him into the spoiled playboy but those rumours eventually got smothered as 'Brucie' caused more and more scandals however he couldn't keep up the façade any longer, not when he was with Dinah. Batman was busy with the League, Robin and Phantom were busy with the team and Alfred was left at one of their many charity gala's Dinah had been brought into the spot light as basically introduced as the Lady of the Manor.

Alfred told Dinah to play the part of a strong woman able to keep him on leash so to speak and the papers ate the whole thing up. Danny and Dick laughed at Bruce playing the whipped boyfriend too afraid to tug on his leash too hard.

Danny on the other hand knew that technically he was keeping the team far away from his heart. He didn't want to allow them too close, they were heroes, they could die and while the same could probably be said for his family that was different. He knew that he could protect them but that team was just something different.

He had been talking to the League and so far they were all either happy or impressed by the Team, there were some who didn't have much of an opinion yet but they were doing well but gaining not just experience but also they were also building their reputations. Danny was also very proud of how far Dick was coming. He was growing into his own person and his own hero but right now Danny was tired.

This world was so different than his own, he had been known, it wasn't just the fact that he wasn't the only hero or the fact that aliens attacked this world more often than ghosts. There was almost nothing the same here not even a Nasty Burger and sometimes Danny didn't feel like he belonged here, he knew logically that he would always be a little homesick but he hoped that he would find something similar or familiar to him so that he could just breathe a little.

He missed Sam and he missed Tucker even Jazz and Valarie. He was once known for being a slacker and here in this world he was known as the genius adopted son of Bruce Wayne someone rumored to soon be the world's first Trillionaire. He had slowly adapted to people watching him, to being in the newspaper, to being known as intelligent, to having money almost constantly, to being recognized as Danny Fenton-Wayne and not being seen as Phantom. He had slowly claimed Gotham as his new haunt and stretching to the team was just not something that he wanted to do. He guessed that he had changed in the time here, he was sort of like Bruce, he didn't like being around too many people anymore. He valued his alone time.

Danny found himself in Crime Alley and he nearly wanted to hit his head against a wall. He was dressed casually, jeans, sneakers and a hoodie but even he could see that he did not fit in here. He was still too put together and the people here seemed to know that he wasn't one of them, he might as well been walking around with a neon sign around his neck claiming that he was from the upper side of Gotham City. He wasn't even sure how he ended up here, he was just walking lost in his thoughts and he ended up here. This was probably the worst part of the city and it was also something that he had never seen before. Amity Park didn't have a place like this, hell most cities in this dimension didn't have a place that was this bad.

Danny didn't know why he didn't just turn around and leave but there was something here, something that was tugging on his protective instincts, something that was familiar to him. He had been slowly developing his telepathy with Martian Manhunter but the process was slow going, every mind was unique and so far all he was able to do was understand emotions, the deeper one probed into another's psyche the more of the emotions got confused in his own head, he had trouble not getting drawn into the other persons emotions so he struggled to move to the next level but the power was developing and right now he was reading someone similar to his family, to Bruce.

Danny found a boy dumpster diving, he was young too maybe 8 or 9 years old but that could just be the malnutrition making him younger. He wasn't as dirty as the other street kids but Danny also knew that he wasn't homeless or at least not yet. He was hungry but not without anyone to care for him. Danny picked up worry and protective instincts coming from the boy but not for him for someone else probably his mother. He was looking for food for but not just for him for his mother as well and Danny felt something tug on his heart. Bruce had handed him a pile of bills in the morning for him to get whatever he wanted but he assumed the boy need it more.

"Here kid."

Danny was holding out a hundred dollar bill and the boy looked at him suspiciously.

"I ain't no whore mister."

Danny laughed, he actually laughed he couldn't help it, he could feel the boy's mind and there was so much potential, he was actually shocked. He never met someone with so much raw emotion, this boy would probably be very passionate but it was more than that. There was so much potential there intelligence and stubbornness as well. This kid he would make the world bow to him before he bowed to it, he reminded Danny of a hurricane, he would consume all in his path if they stood against him but his morals they were faltering, the lines of good and evil were blurring and he would grow and when he did he would be a force to be reckoned with and Danny could hardly wait to see what he would become.

"I'm not looking for a whore. I'm lost, I'll give this to you if you guide me out of here."

The boy narrowed his eyes, "Why me?"

Danny just shrugged, "You seem less likely to take the money and run."

"What makes ya think like that?"

Danny smiled at him, "You seem like a person willing to stand by his word. Remember kid, even when you have nothing all you got is your word and your word is your bond."

The kids eyes flashed with intelligence that Danny knew he possessed, "What's that mean?"

"Its an old fashioned way of saying promise. In this world when the chips are down and you don't have anything, you have to have honor, a man a real man keeps his promises that will be the only thing that will separate you from the others. Do you want to be an honorable man or a coward?"

Danny stopped there, he had planted way more than enough and the kid was still very young. If he over did it then the kid probably wouldn't trust him so he waited for the boy to climb out of the dumpster and show him how to get back to the main road and then Danny gave him the money.

"You're an intelligent kid, there's a public library just down that road. You can go in and read a little about what I told you if you're interested."

Danny waved goodbye and pretend to leave but instead he turned invisible and followed the boy. He walked all the way to library and looked inside, he hovered for a while and then he went inside when no one bothered him he found a place at the back of the library filled with childrens books. He seemed to wonder through the titles for a while until he picked a few books and sat down in the corner again.

Danny left him alone and smiled he had something new to focus on for a while. Dick seemed to pick up on Danny's happier mood and he asked about it so Danny told him about the kid that he met and Dick didn't seem to understand what was so great about the kid.

"I can't explain it, he reminds me of Bruce a little and then there is a little of you. He has the same strength of mind, he is more emotional, he feels very deeply but there is so much potential. He reminds me of a storm and one day he will become a hurricane I can feel it."

Dick frowned, "You think he will become a criminal?"

Danny shook his head, "I don't know, I sense that he is on a slippery slope, his protective instincts are deeply ingrained but we all know many people who think they're doing good by hurting others."

"Like an anti hero?"

Danny just shrugged, "He is just a kid but he reminds me of Valarie."

"Who was Valarie?" asked Dick, he knew of Sam and Tucker and Jazz but Danny never mentioned a Valarie.

"Valarie was a girl from my school, there was an incident with a ghost when I couldn't really control my powers and she lost a lot when the dust cleared. She became one of the best ghost hunters that was in Amity Park but she hated Phantom. She really wanted to help people but she hated all ghosts. She was passionate and well trained but blinded by vengeance and that was also her weakness. This boy he reminds me of her and unlike Valarie I couldn't help her but I can help him."

Dick was happy that his brother managed to find something that reminded him of home, someone that he could focus some of his energy on. As much as he had hoped that the team would help him, they just didn't need the amount of mother henning that Danny needed to get out of his system, they were all looking for independence not for another person to take care of them and he knew that Danny wasn't able to mother Dick as much as he hoped. This kid was younger so Danny had someone to really take care off. Dick just smiled and said, "Whatever makes you happy Danny."


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Damian is gonna be the son of Bruce and Dinah coz I cannot write evil baby ninja.

Chapter 7

While Dick decided to have a day at the beach with his team, Danny decided to go back to Crime Alley. There was something about that kid and Danny needed to know more, to know if he needed more help than he first assumed, if he had someone to care for him and Danny couldn't help but feel protective of him.

He found the boy in the library and he was shocked at the sheer amount of books that he was reading and it was all literature, like Shakespeare he had Romeo and Juliet, Othello and some others in a smaller pile but he was currently reading Macbeth or maybe he was re-reading it, Danny wasn't sure but he sat down in front of the boy and waited to be noticed.

Jason eventually threw the book down in frustration and was shocked to see Danny sitting there and he smiled, "I see you took my advice though I did not expect Shakespeare to be your first reading choice."

The boy scrowled at him, "Its more interestin' but I don't get this one."

Danny looked at the Romeo and Juliet book, "You got that one?"

"Tragic romance, doomed love and stuff."

Danny struggled not to laugh, there was more to it than that but it was obvious the kid didn't really care for that one but he wanted to understand something about Macbeth.

"What don't you get?" asked Danny.

"Why'd she commit suicide, the Lady Macbeth?"

Danny thought that was something kind of clear, "She couldn't live with the guilt."

"But it was her idea. She had to know what wudda done to her so why choose ta off herself later?"

Danny shook his head, "Lady Macbeth became greedy when she heard of the prophecy she believed that because it was a prophecy then it was meant to be, like destiny and because it had been foretold she believed that she would be able to live with what she had done but afterwards she couldn't live with the guilt. Many people think they're ready for something that they are capable of doing something only to regret it later in their life, she was one of them. She saw her hands as bloody, she couldn't escape what she had done and so she ended her life."

"She was weak. She couldn't live up to what she had done." He insisted and Danny was shocked, there was conviction in his statement.

"Why do you say she was weak?"

"She didn't let herself be punished. If she were alive at the end of the book then the new King would have beheaded her and that would have been a punishment, she took the easy way out."

Danny was shocked, he hadn't expected this type of thinking coming from someone so young.

Danny almost wanted to hug him but he also knew the child would never allow it, "She punished herself. She believed that because her hands were stained by the blood of the innocent then she didn't deserve to live, sometimes the punishment that we give to ourselves is worse than anything that someone else could do to us."

Danny met up with Jason every Tuesday and Thursday after that day. Dick had come home telling him of a new team mate and Danny simply rolled his eyes and nodded his head. Danny hardly ever went to the cave anymore, it really wasn't his place and the team was doing just fine. He spent more time with Jason until Dick came to tell him something about some Ghost Girl that Artemis and Zatanna had found which led them to some villain calling himself Harm.

Danny listened, he had been interested however when he went to her supposed grave her spirit was no longer connected to this world. This universe's ghosts just didn't exist in the same way they did in his world. Danny wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel at that but he was both relieved and sad. This world would never work in the same way but there were people here that were his family and for now that was more than enough.

Danny didn't patrol with Batman often, that was usually Dick's place and Danny preferred to be with Canary, she was his mentor after all and they worked well together but this was one of those times when Dick was busy with the team and Canary was in Star City so Danny decided to help Bruce out, besides it was a busy night and one can never be too careful.

Something had nagged on his consciousness the whole patrol, there was someone there and Danny knew it, the presence wasn't harmful, that he could feel a mile away but it definitely didn't belong out in the open the whole night. It followed Batman, hardly noticing Phantom but he spent most of his time invisible. He really didn't want attention not yet, he got enough of it in his human form these days. Danny sensed curiosity, awe and something else, not like with Jason, he was all emotion and while intelligent he was more emphatic, Jason could understand people, he could read them better a book, both their good qualities and the bad. Jason was the type of person that could read people and with training he would probably understand their thinking and understand their decisions. This was different, Danny wasn't reading just emotions from this person there was something else, it was raw potential.

In some ways it was so similar to the feeling that he had gotten from Jason when he was drawn to him but Danny knew that he had been drawn to Jason's emotions, how deeply he felt, his protective instincts so deeply in tuned to himself that in sometimes he thought that if Jason died protecting something or someone would probably have been his obsession, if he had ever come back as a ghost. It reminded him a bit about himself and how he had taken up the responsibility of being his towns hero at only 14, they were both two boys who had shouldered more responsibility than they should have before they should have done so but they still managed to do the best they could.

What Danny was currently sensing was something completely different, this was like a labyrinth of pure untapped potential, this was a mind that never stopped working, that saw things in ways that no one else saw and it was young and so untrained probably a child with ADHD because if the kids mind never stopped he doubted that his body ever stopped. Whoever was currently following Batman, this type of mind was highly aware, highly functional and probably with genius level intellect and he was in awe of the caped crusader.

Danny left Batman and decided to find the source of what he had been sensing all night and boy was he surprised. It was a really tiny kid, maybe 7 years old and he looked kind of like Dick with the black hair and blue eyes thing and he had a camera in his hand and he was taking pictures of Batman. Danny didn't know if he should be alarmed or amused so instead he decided to wait until the kid went home so he could follow him and colour him surprised when he found out that the kid lived right next door to B.

Danny took a quick look around the house and realized that his parents weren't home, not really understanding much he decided to bring it up to Dick. He really didn't want Bruce to terrify the kid and then he left the kid in his makeshift darkroom probably developing his pictures and again he wasn't sure if he should be worried that a seven year old could stalk the dynamic duo and they didn't know or if he should be impressed. Danny hummed slightly as he gathered up some of his files to take to the cave, he needed to talk to Robin after all, Dick did say something about looking for a new partner to train with Batman when he decided to give up the mantle and the training would take a while, a couple of years really so maybe they could let the kid do it.

A different part of his mind flashed back to Jason and Danny immediately shoved that thought aside, Jason was his to mentor not Bruce and he was the one that won his trust, it was only fair that he train this kid if he ever wanted to become a vigilante or you know if he could convince the kid to come to the manor so he could live with them and he was pretty sure that he could convince Bruce to let him keep Jason. It wasn't like he asked for much since he had come here. This kid had a lot of potential and Bruce could train him to be his little Robin, he definitely was a big fan boy of Batman so he fit better. Jason was his, Bruce wouldn't know how to approach him and would probably make him mad, the two of them were very similar and they were both stubborn, Bruce could maybe teach him but he wasn't a good fit for Robin, Jason could create his own mantle after all he was just too independent.

Then Danny nearly slapped himself, it seemed like he had been building up this idea of a perfect family in his head forgetting that both the kid and Jason had parents and even though from the looks of things they were shitty parents, they still weren't orphans and he doubted that he could get Bruce to adopt them both. Danny however knew how stubborn he could be and he really wanted to keep them both, he may not be a full telepath like the Martian Manhunter but he knew how to sense minds and emotions and they both had so much potential in very different ways.

Then Danny shook his head and tried not to imagine scenarios where he convinces Bruce to adopt the both and let them become mini vigilantes, it really wasn't his place to make those types of decisions after all they might not even want to run across rooftops and kick shitty bad guys who might snap and kill them at any given point so there was that to get his imagination under control.

Dick merely raised an eyebrow when Danny tells him about the kid stalking Batman almost as if he doesn't completely believe him but he still does the whole detective thing. This kids name is Tim Drake and his parents leave him all alone in that huge ass house 11 and half months out of the year, seriously they did the math, they were only in Gotham for less than 14 days a year since the kid turned five. Dick isn't sure to be horrified at the parents, what the kid does as a hobby or the fact that he was right next door and no one even knew there was a kid in there.

"Does he know our secret?" asked Dick and Danny just shrugged.

"Honestly I don't know, I just sensed his presence when he was following B."

"But you like him?" asked Dick sounding a little confused. He really had no idea what Danny was thinking but when he spoke of Tim it was similar to how he spoke of Jason and Danny had basically adopted the boy as his own and was trying to convince him to meet Dick or come to the manor but the kid wasn't someone who was willing to trust the 'elite' of the society or maybe he thought he just wouldn't fit in, either way, Dick wasn't sure what Danny was thinking here.

"Liking someone means that I know them even if its barely but I don't really know the kid, I just got the impression of his mind and while Jason was a hurricane, this kid, I don't even know how to label him. Jason his strength was his will, my first thought when I sensed his mind was 'He will make the world bend before he does', he was a very emotional person, one that felt things very deeply and I could relate to that but this kid is different but his potential is vast. His mind probably works at least three times faster than anyone else and I don't know what it is about him, I don't even know how to describe the feeling, maybe something like the ocean and its being restrained but if all that potential is released then he will be a tsunami. Its hard to describe but that kid, letting him rot away in that house with no one around him is probably the stupidest thing we could ever do."

Dick kind of understood where Danny was coming but he still wasn't sure what he really wanted here or what he was trying to accomplish.

"So exactly what do you want to do?" asked Dick and Danny smiled sheepishly.

"The kid would probably be a pretty good Robin. He is only seven years old if we trained him, it would probably take at least two years before he would be ready for the field and in those two years you might be ready to create your own mantle or at the very least share the mantle with him until we're sure he can fly on his own."

Dick was kind of shocked, he knew that he and B had discussed maybe looking for someone else to become Robin but they hadn't talked about it again but he also assumed that it was because Bruce didn't want him to feel pressured into giving up his name too soon. It was something that they discussed for the future, a someday, kind of thing but finding someone so soon to start training to take his place, he couldn't help but feel a little bit angry and Danny noticed and he put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"I didn't mean it like that. I got so excited about the amount of potential that I saw within him I wasn't being fair to you. I didn't mean to make to you feel like you had to give up the mantle or rush you its just you already had training. The skills you learned in the circus gave you a crutch until you learned how to fight well but finding someone else to be Robin now or in the future isn't going to be easy. You need someone who will be field ready as soon as possible and that will take extensive training. We don't want people to be able to connect the dots that the first Robin became someone else and then months later another Robin is seen on the streets, if we are able to make the transition smooth then no one will know that someone else is wearing the Robin costume. It helps to keep your identities a secret."

Dick could see where Danny was coming from, it would eventually be suspicious, Bruce adopted a circus kid and Robin appeared next to Batman, Dinah moved in with Bruce and Black Canary moved to Gotham. Phantom came with Canary and Danny came with Dinah. If Bruce adopts another person it will eventually be suspicious that as the Wayne family grows as does the Batfamily but if they already had someone trained from now maybe even alternating days when they both wore the costumes it would be harder to tell when Robin moved on and when someone else wore the cape, confusion would hide their secrets, Danny had learned from Bruce, he learned to plan long term and he was doing really well.

"I see where you're coming from but are we sure we can trust him?" asked Dick and Danny rolled his eyes, "No idea. Look get to know the kid, see what he knows and what you guys think and then if you decide that he would make a good Robin approach B and talk about it. No one says we have to start training him tomorrow. It is your name, your mantle its only fair that you get a say in who takes it up, I'm just making a suggestion."

Dick smiled kind of relieved that Danny wasn't going to push for more, the kid was chasing them on the rooftops so he knew that logically he would have to talk to the kid, get his own feel from him and maybe just maybe he would agree with Danny and train him but he wasn't ready yet to give up his name, he still had a lot to learn from both Danny and Bruce.

"What about Jason?"

Danny grimaced, "His mom is in a pretty bad shape. I don't think its just the drugs, I'm also pretty sure her health is failing and I don't know how to help her and I can't tell Jason to abandon his mother and come live with me even though I really want to get him out of there."

Dick sighed, he knew how rough Jason had it and Danny was really trying to help the kid but he couldn't do much from where he was currently and as long as his mom was alive he was better off with her, Gotham's orphanages were not in the best shape as little as he had it was more than those places got especially the places near Crime Alley.

"I really hate to mention this, but why don't you get her to sign over custody to you if something happens to her?"

"I'm 16, why would she name me his next of kin?"

Dick rolled his eyes and tossed Danny the newspaper, the front page was a picture of Danny shaking hands with a CEO while the headlines screamed about the eldest Wayne child and his brilliance which had made him a self-made millionaire and that his adoptive father must be so proud and how his inventions had raised the Wayne company profits by nearly 50%.

"You can give him a better life. Ask her what she wants for him and if she is anything like you say then she will want a better life for her son and she will let him come with you. We could send her to a treatment facility, he can go visit while he stays here, make her comfortable."

Dick and Danny shared a look, it was a sad look because while Dick had found it funny that Danny could sense when a woman had given birth he also knew that he had the ability to sense death, and if he thought that the womans health was failing then it probably was and she was dying.

Danny called a lawyer that night and asked for papers to be drawn up. He wasn't sure what Jasons mom would choose to do but he wanted to at least give her a choice.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Catharine Todd knew she was doing wrong by her son. Her husband had been an abusive piece of shit she knew that logically but she had loved him and somewhere in her lost mind she knew that he had loved her once, it turned into something ugly but this home, there was once warmth here but now all she felt was the cold in her bones. She was dying, she didn't need a doctor to tell her that, years of beatings, cigarettes, alcohol and drugs did that to the body. She knew that Jason was smart and he was strong he would be able to make it out there she just hoped and prayed that he didn't fall into the same trap of addiction that she had fallen into. She knew she was depressed after all why else would she seek out the drugs to try and keep her going but she knew that her son was already doing petty crime to put food on the table and it broke her heart.

She had promised to take care of him and if she died from whatever sickness she could feel in her bones or from using too much it wouldn't matter, he was strong, resilient, he would never just go quietly to some home somewhere, he would take to the streets and as much as she couldn't shield him from the cruelties of this world she had tried to save him from the worst of it. She didn't want him to go to the streets she knew what was out there and how it changed and hardened people, Jason was untrusting and crafty now but those streets would beat the meaning of 'only the strong survive' into him by either beating the weakness out of him or hurting him until he built walls so high no one could ever breach them. He may not have much but he still believed in right and wrong and the streets would twist that until he became someone that she would never recognize.

Catherine was a mother and she wanted something better for her son, she wanted it desperately and now here was her chance. A sixteen year old boy had knocked on her door that morning and he smiled even though he seemed nervous and he told her who he was and of course she knew him, the eldest son of Bruce Wayne, there were rumors of his genius even the slums of Gotham had heard of it and she couldn't help but wonder what the hell he was doing here? He was likely to get himself killed in this place. Crime Alley was no place for a rich kid, genius or not.

Then he told he of how he met Jason and how he wanted to help them, he presented her with some papers and said, "I won't force you Mrs. Todd, I just want you to think about it. I can help you and I can help your son."

"Why would you do this? The cost of it…" she trailed off and the boy blushed slightly.

"I can afford it, we both know it. Jason is a really special kid, he is smart, driven and he has the potential to be so much more. I can give him a better life with more opportunities and I would never stop him from coming to see you but this place its an anchor around his neck and he will drown if we leave him here. Just think about it?"

The boy had left her and she didn't say anything, she spent the whole day just thinking, it would mean leaving this place, probably never coming back and it would likely tear them apart but Jason would have food every day and a real education and then he could go to college and he could make a future for himself. He could be someone and even if she wasn't there every step of the way then maybe she could just watch and she would be proud. He could offer her boy a better life and Jason trusted him and he needed someone, a male, not a father heaven knows that his father had probably tainted the word forever in his mind but a brother. Danny would be able to give him a much better life and she wouldn't let that opportunity pass her by, she called Jason to the kitchen.

"I know you're friends with Danny and he came here to see me yesterday and we talked for a while and he made an offer. There's a hospital on the other side of Gotham one that can treat me and he agreed to pay for the treatment if I allowed you to live with him."

Jason got angry and his mom and at Danny for trying to change everything and trying to take his choices away so he argued with her loudly and Catherine snapped, she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

"Look at where we are Jay! A crappy one room apartment with nearly no food in the fridge and barely enough money to keep the roof over our heads. I'm a crack addict son and I'm probably dying and there is no one left, no family or friends that can take you in but Danny wants to. He can send you to a real school and then to a college, he can put food on the table every day and he can provide you with a life where you never have to suffer, a life without poverty. He can help you make something of this life inside of wasting away in this place never going anywhere and turning into a criminal. That's all Crime Alley does, it twists people and takes from them until they're nothing but monsters and if you stay here then you will end up in the same place your father did, trying to make money and ending up in jail. This place is poison and I will not allow you to die here."

"But its home, with you, you're all I got." Replied Jason and she started to cry as she clutched her son to her chest.

"I know son and if I were a better mother, a better person then I could give you a better life I can't but I can do this. I can send you to Danny and he isn't a stranger Jason. You know him and he didn't want me to just disappear you can come visit me, he asked that I think about it, maybe if the worst happened name him your next of kin so you wouldn't go into the system but he also offered me treatment. Maybe one day I'll be healthy again but son I don't think I'll last much longer and this way I know you have a chance at a good life."

Jason didn't want to say yes, he didn't want to leave her, this place was all that he had known his whole life but the truth was not so easy to hide from, his mom had been getting thinner and paler and weaker. She wasn't getting better here and Danny wasn't a stranger he was a friend and he knew that he could trust him. He hadn't lied to far so he knew that if Danny said he would go visit his mom then Danny would take him and he couldn't deny the fact that Danny would send him to school, a real school where he could get an education which was one of the only ways to get out of Crime Alley, get an education, get a job and don't look back. He didn't want to lose his mother but either way she would die or go to the hospital and the treatment would probably give her more time and maybe a fighting chance, at the very least she would be comfortable and Jason couldn't fight his mothers logic so he just nodded in resignation, she made the right choice here and they both knew it even if they didn't like it.

While Jason was getting life changing news from his mother Danny was currently racing his motorcycle towards Gotham Academy. He sighed, he really didn't want to go anywhere the High School most of the students there were all from the wealthy and elite families who had their own type of politics and teenage drama and they all wanted to know about the eldest Wayne who was also unmarried and probably in line to inherit Bruce Wayne's family fortune.

Danny couldn't help but roll his eyes at that, now he understood what Sam meant by people would only care about her for her money. Dick hated it as well, and he once told him that he hung around the scholarship kids instead of the fake people who were only interested in the fact that he shared his last name with Bruce but they really needed Dick.

Bruce tried really hard not to pull Dick out of school, if there was a mission which would cause him to miss school, he always called ahead and had some excuse lined up or he went on missions after school or during weekends. They didn't want anyone noticing that Robin appeared when Dick disappeared but this was one of those no choice moments and someone had to actually come and pick him up. Alfred would have come but Danny was closer so he just sucked it up and went to the bloody school.

It was break time, because of course the entire school would be around when the fancy motorcycle pulled up and revealed the elder brother to Dick Grayson-Wayne, the one who loathed the attention yet managed it with grace and calm even though behind the camera's and the backs of other people he gave his brother the 'please kill me' look.

Danny sighed and pulled off the helmet even though Dick was already walking over. There were two older girls with him a red head that he believed was Barbara and a blonde that he recognized as Artemis the second protégé of Green Arrow.

"Entrance much? Feeling the aster yet?"

Danny ignored the urge to strangle him and rolled his eyes, "Grab your bag while I go to the office and sign you out."

Barbara and Dick seemed to have a conversation with their eyes and Artemis just looked at him confused, "You're taking him away- who are you again?"

"Bruce needs him home. There's a family emergency. I'm Danny the older brother."

Her eyes widened as she looked at them both, "I thought you were like much older and you guys look a lot alike."

Danny shrugged, "College was more interesting and useful, I'm only a year older than him and that is complete coincidence. Could you show me to the office so I sign him out?"

Artemis nodded while Barbara accompanied Dick to get his stuff. She led him through the hallways pointing out some of the markings so that if he ever came again he would be able to find his way here again and he smiled at her and thanked her.

She couldn't help that his smile was boyish and it almost made her want to smile back but instead she waved over her shoulder and walked away rolling her eyes. She really didn't need to start fantasizing about some rich boy, she had enough to deal with both in and out of her mask, she knew better than to get some crush that would never amount to anything.

Danny watched her walk away, Artemis was not someone that he spent a lot of time around, he was pretty sure that he only met her like three times, as the team grew the more Danny pulled away from it. He still spoke to Connor but that was mostly because he was the only person who tried to help him control his powers and his anger. They weren't very close but he was the closest thing that Danny had to a friend. She was pretty Danny thought and as soon as the thought crossed his mind Danny nearly swallowed his tongue in panic.

He and Sam did not work out, their relationship had been friendship, to awkward flirting to actual dating and then they just fizzled out. The first three months they were a couple they were all over each other, in the whole 'newlywed bliss' sort of thing where they went on dates and held hands, shared a few kisses but then they slowly just grew comfortable and the kisses were no longer passionate but duty their affection just slowly died and Danny hadn't dated anyone afterwards, hell he barely had the time to find someone to crush on, he was so busy hunting ghosts, being chased by his parents and Val, catching up on homework and sleep and everything else that came with being a teenager that he never had the time to take an actual interest in someone after he broke up with Sam.

There had been that time when he mourned for the whole 'what if' with Sam, when he wondered if he wasn't Phantom then maybe their relationship wouldn't have died out but then again, they were both so young it probably wouldn't have lasted no matter what he did and in the end he realized that he wanted to be in love with her so badly that he just didn't think about long term, he wanted her so badly that he wasn't willing to really look at the people they were and realize that they weren't going to fit in the long run and once he made peace with the fact that they weren't right for each other he just never found anyone else and now this…?

As he walked back to his bike, he saw Dick waiting patiently for him even though his shoulders were tense showing how badly he wanted to know what the hell was happening, he was acting calm while Danny kept up his mask he was internally panicking. This was the first person to interest him in a long time and he didn't know what to do or even what to think. Maybe it was just his subconscious telling him that he is ready to think about someone again? Or telling him that he can still be attracted to people even though he concentrated all his time and effort on other people this was some sort of sign that he needed someone who was willing to look out for only him.

Danny climbed on the bike and Dick climbed on behind him and they sped away from the school and Danny tried not to look back to catch a glimpse of her. She was very different from Sam. Artemis had long, blonde hair and pretty brown eyes while Sam had short black hair and purple eyes. Sam was a goth and an ultra-recyclo vegetarian, he didn't really know anything about Artemis but he did know that they were both strong independent people. They were both kick ass women and he guessed that even if they were different in looks he still had a type. He liked strong women, who didn't take crap from anyone but that didn't mean he was in love with her or anything, he thought she was pretty and that she was interesting nothing more.

"What's going on Danny?"

Danny was snapped out of his love life troubles to deal with Dick and you know the present day situation.

"You're needed for a mission in Bialya. B said something about the President being controlled and how it came to his attention too late and you were already in school."

Dick seemed confused, "Shouldn't you be pulling Artemis out of school as well then?"

Danny shook his head, "The briefing is later. The team will head out sometime after school hours but the mission will probably make you miss school tomorrow. There really is a family meeting, we're just using it as your excuse for the mission."

Dick looked a little confused, "Since when do we have family meetings?"

Danny shrugged, "Before it was just you, Bruce and Alfred who needed to communicate, now that both Dinah and I live here, decisions that would affect the family need to be spoken about before they're actually made, basically we need to tell each other when we planning to do something."

Dick raised an eyebrow, "Was this Dinah's idea?"

Danny blushed and nodded sheepishly. She said we all sucked when it came to communication and there actually are things that we need to catch B up on so I thought we kill two birds with one stone. We tell B about Tim and Jason who I do have news on and we get you an alibi for being out tomorrow when Robin is running around a foreign country.

Dick just rolled his eyes and wondered how B was going to take the fact that Danny kind of adopted one kid and he was kind of thinking of adopting the other because he had been watching Tim and it broke his heart seeing how lonely he was and couldn't they keep him? Tim was so tiny and small and fragile that they could literally just hide him in a room in the manor and cuddle the shit of out him he was like a baby bird honestly, he wasn't so sure about the whole training him to be the future Robin thing but he did need to tell B that a civilian knew their identity.

Bruce did approve of the fact that Danny managed to get Dick an alibi for tomorrow as he would likely be missing school. He was also glad for the family meeting because he did have news that he would have to share with everyone so they knew what was happening and he agreed with Dinah, getting both his sons to just sit down and talk to them about what was happening in their lives both in and out of the masks was a damn good idea because they got busy and important news just got pushed around until they figured it out instead of sharing and when he was stupid enough to ask why that was important his girlfriend scrowled at him and he was pretty sure she would either throw something at him or just use her Canary cry to put him on his ass for being so thick headed when it came to emotions.

Bruce got a lecture about how sharing and communication was good for trust and helped to avoid misunderstandings. She also reminded him that he was raising teenage boys and as teenagers they needed things like reassurance and attention by simply sitting them down and talking about what was happening around them he made them feel safe and secure here. It helped keep them in control because there was nothing that could blindside them and it was a show of trust on both ends.

So when his sons sat down and Dinah took a seat next to him and Alfred laid out the tea and cookies he spoke, "Danny's work for the company has had a larger impact than we first expected. The new energy source has not only doubled our profits but it also has pushed my status into something that we didn't expect. Bruce Wayne is officially the world's first Trillionaire. The company's profits have made the title official and while we have been able to keep it out of the media I don't think we can last much longer."

Dick's jaw dropped, Bruce had always been one of the worlds richest men, in the top five, with people like Lex Luthor and Drake Industries in the limelight as well but this was something so totally unexpected that his mind actually went blank and Danny just face palmed. He didn't mean to do something like that and this was probably going to be bringing a lot of attention onto the family.

"Lucius is putting together the announcement but its going to big and we'll have to be extra careful until the extra attention dies down but for now that's the only thing you boys need to be aware off."

Dick took a moment to digest before blurting out everything that he found out about Tim and that he had spoken to the boy and he knows their identities because he was a fan of the Flying Grayson's and recognized Robin as he flew through the air and that he was stalking them and Batman didn't even know. Bruce just shared a look with Dinah and neither of the boys knew what to make of it so Danny jumped in with his news about how Catharine Todd had signed over custody of her son to Danny.

Dinah was impressed, Bruce actually managed to keep his cool for about five minutes before demanding more explanations which majorly came from Danny. Once they were done Bruce wasn't so sure about either boys but agreed to let Tim visit more at the manor so he and Dinah could get a feel of the boy and Jason was Danny's responsibility. Dinah and Bruce agreed to help but the Danny had already claimed Jason as his, so they weren't going to interfere with that, they both knew that Danny's ghost side needed more people to protect and as much as he mothered them all, Bruce and Dinah were adults and Dick was looking for independence, they just weren't able to let him fawn over them the way they knew he wanted and so he went and found someone to take care off. Bruce was hesitant it was a big responsibility but he also had faith that Danny knew what he was doing.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: I don't think the whole dynamic about Damian is that he was raised as an assassin, it was more of the fact that he was the only blood son of Bruce and he had issues and yes I do agree that he wouldn't be the same person if he was born to B and D but here's the thing, I tried writing Damian as an evil ninja baby and I totally ruined his character. I just cannot write him, most of the time he is an ass to Tim, had no relationship with Jason as far as I know, is attached to Dick and is rocky with his father. I only ever saw him in two Batman movies and I just can't write him in a way that is realistic.

Another thing is that Damian loved his mother very much despite her madness. I think he would probably try to kill Dinah or cause a rift between them until she left B so that he could focus more on his child which is something that I believe she would do. Sacrifice their relationship for the son who was raised to be evil and is trying so hard to overcome that and B would be blaming himself for the loss of his kids childhood and think he doesn't deserve her.

Damian was once written as the son of Bruce and Selina when they got married and he retired as Batman, it was in the cartoon so I'm taking authors privilege and saying no evil ninja baby here sorry.

Chapter nine

Jason Todd had been in the manor for nearly a week and he still felt extremely weird. When he first came here he had a ratty old backpack and some clothes stuffed into a duffle bag and when he saw the place he couldn't help but feel like he really did not belong in a place this big and fancy. Danny took him to a room that was probably bigger than his old apartment and showed him where he could leave his things, showed him the library and then left him alone to try and settle. He also said something about working on a time sensitive experiment and disappeared, probably to his lab.

He pulled out a library book and settled into a corner of the floor underneath a desk on the fluffy mat and started reading. He felt a little out of place to actually sit on the bed or the furniture. A couple hours passed and Danny showed up to take him to dinner and introduce him to the other people that lived in the house. He met a pretty blonde woman named Dinah and found out that she was Bruce's girlfriend. He liked her, she had a soothing presence but her eyes also showed that she was tough, she wasn't a little pretty wallflower, she had fire in her and he knew that she could tell what he was thinking about her. Jason didn't mind, he actually respected her for it.

There was Dick, Bruce's son and Danny's younger brother, he was playful and made weird puns. He was also very touchy and that kind of freaked him out but he wasn't actually being mean or doing anything, he was just very affectionate and trying to make him comfortable even though it had the opposite effect. Then he met the fucking butler and his brain might have actually broken for a moment because seriously they had a butler named Alfred and he well Jason liked him he had a no nonsense kind of way and he was also the sass master, seriously he nearly lost it when Bruce wasn't paying attention to the food and was on his phone and Alfred raised an eyebrow and glared and the phone quickly disappeared.

He didn't know what to think of Bruce but the man nodded to him and kind of smiled at him before going to back to his food so he assumed that the man didn't hate him. He still felt really weird being here in his house, eating his food and not really doing anything to earn it. It made him feel antsy and kind of angry but he also didn't know what else to do, he supposed for the first time this was what it meant to be helpless.

Danny gave him three days before giving in and asking him what was wrong and by then he was wound so tight he just kind of exploded.

"Everything, I feel like I'm gonna break something by touching it, like I'm gonna dirty something by stepping on it or like I'm supposed to be earning something somehow and I just don't know what to do with myself and its pissing me off because I never needed no one to try and take care of me."

By the time he was finished ranting he realized he was crying and that just made him embarrassed and Danny smiled at him, like he was proud of him.

"I knew this wouldn't be easy for you, for a long time you were the man of the house and now you're here in this place where everything is provided for you and you feel like you no longer have control which was sometimes all you had. Did you know that Dick lived in a circus until B adopted him? My parents were scientists, they weren't poor but we didn't have this much, we had a three bedroom home and a lab in the basement. Dinah worked as a psychiatrist in Star City, she had a two bedroom apartment but now she's Mistress of the Manor, Dick and I we all had to get used to this life as well."

Jason felt a little better knowing that Dick wasn't actually Bruce's son. He didn't know much about the adoption thing, he didn't really pay attention to them rich folk while jacking car tires but it helped him feel less of an outsider when he realized that Dick had to get used to all this as well. For the first time since coming here, he went looking for him and found him flying through the air in his gym.

"Hey, you wanna learn?" asked Dick.

He wasn't going to offer, not at first. He was going to ask Jason what he was up too since he wasn't hiding in his room anymore and hoped that he was finally settling in but then he was the look of awe and decided why not? Maybe it could be a bonding experience and he was still young, it would be easier to teach him flexibility now then later.

Jason did want to learn so the two chatted while Dick showed him the basics, he told Jason of his parents and some fun adventures in the circus and it made him a little sad but it also made Jason happy to hear things about him that made him seem more like him and helped them connect. Dick wasn't poor like Jason was but he had very little when he came here, he too had next to nothing actually. Living on the road, he lived with the bare necessities and some valuables but not much.

Once they cooled off, Dick went to start his homework and then he got stuck with English. He hated Literature, Dick's strong points were math and computers not Literature and essays and themes. He hated poetry as well. He did well with some brain teasers and riddles but Shakespeare count him out. He groaned and Jason laughed and started detailing stuff from the plays that he didn't even realize had importance or even references to the larger themes. Jason helped him with the literature but when he reached math Jason seemed lost, so he dug out the beginners books and showed him the basics. It soon became routine for them to train together for a little while and then Dick would so some homework and teach Jason new sections in math and science.

Danny was glad that Dick was able to help Jason, and when he wasn't around he followed Alfred around mainly pestering him to teach him how to cook and after realizing that he did know the basics he started to actually teach him.

Bruce caught him one day attempting to box in the gym while waiting for Dick, he was mainly messing around and he was using what he saw on television but he wasn't half bad so he called out some corrections and the kid took him seriously and corrected himself. Bruce smiled, Danny was right about the boy, there was a lot potential there and his mind was eager, he wanted to learn and he could be molded but not to Robin. He was already too independent, he wasn't someone who would listen well to orders but if he had Danny teaching him well that just might work out better.

"I wanted to thank you."

Bruce actually smiled at him, "For what?"

"Letting me stay with you." Replied Jason and Bruce ruffled his hair.

"You're doing more for Danny than you know. He was very lonely and he needed someone he could take care off, Dick he is already looking for independence he doesn't want someone looking over his shoulder making sure he's okay and he doesn't need it but you, you're someone that Danny can take care off, you both need each other so thank you for giving him a friend."

Jason smiled brightly at him and then flipped over to join Dick on the trampoline.

Danny kept Jason occupied at night once everyone went out for patrol, he waited for Jason to fall asleep before he joined Dinah on patrol. He knew that they wouldn't be able to keep their secret forever but for right now he had enough change. Danny even suggested that Dinah have a few sessions with him just so that they could be certain that he was adjusting well to all the changes.

Danny also knew that he hadn't changed into his Phantom form in a long time, he was using his powers while remaining in his human form and his uniform was similar to the hazmat suit with a few accessories that B had made for him. His suit was a mash up between his suit and the Robin suit when in human form. His Phantom form was too noticeable with the whole white hair and glowing green eyes thing but he did wonder whether or not his Phantom suit had completely adapted to the changes he had gone through but that was an idea for another time.

Dinah had been acting strange recently and then there was the fact that Tim had been coming to the manor and Bruce had no idea what to make of the mild mannered kid. Jason seemed to think of the kid as some sort of fragile doll considering the fact that Jason and Dick were rough housing and Jason nearly crushed him. He wasn't even that big, none of them were but then again Tim was only seven years old and Jason was 10. The poor boy cried out and turned red as he was crushed under the older boy and Jason immediately started fussing, honestly he was just as bad a mother hen as Danny could be sometimes.

It was kind of nice to have the house filled with kids, Bruce did always want lots of children but the life that he had chosen, it wasn't a path to be filled with children but even though they were not of his blood they were his family. Dinah on the other hand was acting strangely recently and she wasn't going out as much as she used too and he didn't know why. When she approached their bed he grabbed her hand and stroked her cheek. He never thought that he could have something like this but now he was worried, she had promised to stay for as long as he was willing to make it work and he was still trying so why was she acting so strangely?

"There is something bothering you. Talk to me Dinah please."

Dinah smiled at him, for once it was him reminding her to talk to him instead of the other way around and she really wanted to tell him, a part of her was excited, the other part was terrified but she wasn't sure how he was going to take this. He adopted pre-teens this was something so totally different and it would change all their lives, she wasn't sure what was going to happen or how this was going to change things but she really hoped that she wouldn't lose him.

"I'm pregnant." She whispered and she felt him stiffen before his eyes widened and he fainted. Dinah was so stunned she couldn't even laugh, Batman, the world's greatest detective, a man that instilled fear in every villain across the world, a man that some rogues had nightmares about while only the totally insane took him on fainted because his girlfriend told him she was pregnant, it was such a typical male response that she eventually did laugh.

He went through the whole 'how' question to which she just glared at him and he nodded sheepishly and she calmly reminded him that condoms were not always 100% effective and this was possible. Then he asked her to marry him and she scrowled at him.

"There is no way in hell that I am going to marry you just because I'm pregnant. There are many couples who can have a baby without getting married and we will be such a couple until we get to a point where you ask me to marry you because you want to spend the rest of your life with me and not because you feel like you need to take responsibility. We've been together nearly a year, we can take our time."

Dinah stopped going into the field until after the pregnancy and Dick and Danny just took it in stride. They already had Jason and Tim spent more time here at the manor than he did at home and he was slowly getting more comfortable with B and he was also thinking along the same lines of Danny. The kid would make a pretty good Robin so basically their family was growing so why not add another kid to the family? Dick was actually pretty excited and B was well he was freaking out since he knew nothing about babies but Dinah was there to calmly remind him that they would learn together.

Danny also hired a tutor, mainly because when Dick was tested into Gotham Academy he was two grades higher than the rest of his age group. Jason hadn't been in school for a long time and no one was sure where he would test into and since he was helping Dick with his literature homework and no one was really sure what Dick taught him when they were having their lessons some of which Tim joined in on and then they realized exactly how fast the kids brain worked and B was already thinking of getting in touch with Janet Drake so he could rattle her for her poor parenting skills and he really wanted to test Tim's IQ, there was no way that kid was normal.

Jason had a pull plate for a while until he figured out that there was something that everyone was hiding from him and then he started snooping as well and then he found the bat cave. Honestly, all he did was wait until Danny thought he was asleep and follow him into the study, saw the clock open and well once you see it you can never un-see it. It really was similar to what Dick had done and how he figured it out. Tim wasn't there but he wasn't really mad at anyone but he did want to help and Danny immediately started on the whole training regime.

Jason also realized that B wanted Tim to be the next Robin and he asked Danny why he couldn't do it first, Tim was much younger and Dick wasn't looking to pass the mantle just yet and Danny smiled at him and shook his head.

"Robin is Batman's protégé, but it also means that he expects complete obedience. You're already crawling out of your skin here in the everyday life where you still don't feel like you fit in, if we put you in the Robin suit then you're going to have to obey B, all the time even if you think differently and you cannot argue with him."

Jason already looked like he didn't like what Danny was talking about and Danny smiled at him, "Dick he works with B because he didn't really give him much of a choice but the reason why we all think we need to train someone else to be Robin is because Dick isn't going to be okay with doing that much longer, he is going to want to be his own man and call the shots and he cannot do that as Robin. Jay you're too independent to be Robin. Your mentor needs to be someone that you can argue with, someone that you can talk too and compromise with, that isn't who Batman is and the two of you will probably tear each other apart. You can create your own name, B and Dinah will train you, so will Dick and me and when you're ready you can take to the streets."

Jason seemed a lot more settled after that explanation and he also started taking a closer look at the relationship between Batman and Robin and he couldn't help but agree. Batman demanded for every order to be met without even a word and those standards were not something that he would be able to work with, a mold that he didn't fit. He could never just follow, not without arguing his ways and points and Danny wouldn't expect something like that from him so there was that.

Danny took Jason to Gotham Academy. He wasn't enrolling now but he did come to take a placement test which would tell him where he was going to be placed next year when school opened again. Danny promised that he would wait for him while he took the test so that he wouldn't have to wait for someone to come and pick him up.

While Jason took the test, Danny took a walk around the campus. He had to admit it was a pretty school, very different from his old school with Dash and Paulina and the rest. He caught sight of blonde hair and she was backing away from what appeared to be some seniors. Danny nearly rolled his eyes, he recognized the boy with brown hair, he was good looking in the preppy rich kid sort of way and he sort of recognized him Matt David, Davies, Harvey? Or something, his father was a business man who spoke to him about one of the projects he was working on and he was an ass as well.

Artemis looked pissed so he listened a little more carefully and realized that they were propositioning her and he scrowled. Rich kids were such a pain in the ass, she was here on a scholarship so they thought that they could pay her for some fun, it was insulting and humiliating and exactly the type of bullying that you see in rich schools where the people on scholarships were seen as outcasts and since she was trying to keep her cover as a normal civilian she couldn't knock the guys teeth out which he was pretty sure he was very close to doing as the guy leered at her and got closer.

"Artemis are you ready to go?" he called out and the group of five guys broke up as she looked at him, recognized him and looked like she was going to throttle him as soon as she was done punching them in the nuts and he sighed, why did he always find the dangerous women who were not damsels in distress and would never be happy with being saved? Because he was an idiot that was why.

"You're Daniel Wayne." Muttered Matt or maybe it was Brad? Honestly he wasn't even sure, the guy just didn't matter enough for him to care.

"Obviously. Artemis you coming or not?"

Artemis decided to go with Danny, at least he wouldn't push her to kick someone's ass and maybe cause her to blow her identity.

"Why did you do that?" she asked and she knew that she was glaring at him she just couldn't find it in herself to be grateful, she didn't need some sort of hero to save her.

Danny barely looked at her instead he checked his watch, "Technically I wasn't saving you, I was saving them from getting beat to a pulp."

She was actually so shocked she almost froze and then she really did growl out, "What do you mean?"

Danny smiled at her, that boyish smile that made her tummy do silly flips and replied, "I'm not stupid. I know when a girl can kick ass and you are definitely one of them besides if you got into a fight and won then you would be in trouble, suspension maybe even expulsion and they were jerks. People like them are the reason I chose to go to college."

Artemis smiled back this time, he wasn't even gloating about the fact that he helped her and when they reached the office Jason was done and it was time to go home. She was about to say goodbye and thanks when Jason smiled at her sweetly and asked if she wanted to come with them.

"We're gonna go get ice cream. Will you come too?"

Danny nearly walked into a wall when Jason asked Artemis to come with them because firstly they weren't supposed to be getting ice cream, they were going home to a training session. Secondly Jason hated missing his sessions because he really wanted to patrol as soon as possible and thirdly since when did Jason like other people enough to invite them for ice cream and then before she could reply he tugged on her hand and ran to the car while Danny trailed after them both wondering what on earth happened to the kid and wondering if he should alert B that Jay might be mind controlled or abducted or replaced by a pod person.

Jason dived into the backseat of the Jaguar that Danny was currently driving and pushed Artemis to take the passenger seat while they waited for Danny to actually come and you know drive the car to the park. Danny climbed inside and raised an eyebrow in the mirror at Jason who smiled back sweetly and turned to Artemis who looked just as confused to how she got here as he did but he just shrugged and went with it, he learned to just roll with the weird since coming to this dimension so he said, "Ice cream it is." And drove off completely forgetting Dick and the rest of the school who were just in time to watch their exit and if there were people recording then it was a problem for another day.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Yes Jason sees that both Danny and Artemis are interested in each other and tried to set them up. I think that if they really focused more on Jason as a person not on being Robin and being similar to Dick because Batman was lonely without his son then Jason could have had his own strengths.

Jason was someone who was able to read people, he was street smart, he knew how to pick targets to pickpocket so with Danny as his mentor they're polishing the skills that he already has to make him a good fighter and a hero. Jason is able to read people similar to how Cassandra Cain can read people but not as well as her, body language was the only language she knew so she is definitely better than him but it is something he is working on. If you ever watched the movie Now You See Me 2, then the character Chase McKinney and how he was able to read people that's what I'm going for.

Chapter 10

Danny and Artemis started hanging out a bit more ever since Jason basically kidnapped her and forced her to come with them for ice cream. It was actually a good day, the weather was nice and Artemis well she was funny and sarcastic and intelligent. Danny actually really enjoyed himself, it had been a long time since he had just been normal teen, hanging out with someone that he cared about and he hadn't realized how much he missed it.

Artemis on the other hand didn't really know what to make of Danny and finding out that he was Canary's mysterious protégé who almost never went with them on missions was shocking to her. Wally and Dick were friends so they met up sometimes to hang out but Wally was almost never allowed in the manor, he did visit just very rarely. Jason gave absolutely no shits when he holds her hands and pulls her towards the gym excitedly telling her that he wants to learn how to shoot a bow and arrow and Danny told him to ask Artemis if she would be willing to teach him because he didn't know to use one.

The two of them practiced for a little while until Danny comes in ready for his hand to hand lesson with Jason and is shocked to see her there. Artemis smiled at the look of confusion on his face and shrugged.

"He was waiting for me when I finished school with Alfred so I taught him how to shoot, he isn't half bad at it." She said in response to the unasked question and Danny smiled at Jason in pride.

"Dick uses a bo-staff mostly, Dinah uses her cry or hand to hand, B uses his arsenal of weapons and hand to hand, I use hand to hand as well as my powers, I wanted him to find a weapon that he liked, something that he would be comfortable using as a primary weapon."

Artemis nodded her head at him, "It's a good idea but he isn't an archer. Archers work at a distance mostly and Jason isn't one to fight from distance."

Danny sighed, "I know that's why this is so hard, honestly none of us who have bat training work with only one style, we learn a little of everything and tailor it to suit our needs. Dick will probably change his primary weapon when he gets older but the only thing that I can see Jason using is probably a gun so he can fight in the thick of things and guns are not welcome in Gotham."

Artemis nodded, everyone knew how Batman felt about guns but it was also more than that, guns were what their enemies used to kill people, no one ever used a gun as a hero, it didn't send the right message to anyone and it was just too dangerous, guns were basically inviting an accident, probably a fatal one.

"Why not a crossbow?" asked Artemis and Danny raised an eyebrow.

She rolled her eyes at him, "Don't think I didn't see all your inventions. You obviously can make weapons so why not a crossbow able to fit at his wrists. It would be similar to him holding handguns but not actually firing bullets."

It was actually a good idea, Jason was a melee fighter and he would definitely rely on hand to hand so that he could be in the thick of the fight and a crossbow, fitted at the wrists for a little bit of distance, not as much as the bow and arrow but a few feet to ensure a circle of protection around him. Danny nodded to her, he would probably end up creating an arsenal just for him, maybe get a few rough ideas for Tim as well.

"You're really good with him." Commented Danny and Artemis smiled at him,

"He reminds me of me, someone trying so hard to overcome the demons that only he can see and slightly terrified that he will fail. He just needs some attention and some encouragement."

Jason noticed the two of them getting lost in that little bubble of theirs so he disappeared and just as he was about to go back to his room for a shower he noticed Dick and a red haired guy heading to the gym and he panicked. If they went in there then they'd ruin the atmosphere and burst their bubble and Artemis would go home.

He didn't know what to do to so he grabbed Timmy as he was headed for the library and spoke quickly, "Dick and his friend are going to ruin the set up I made for Danny and Artemis, start crying."

Tim just raised an eyebrow, "What do I get out of it?"

Jason sighed, the kid looked all innocent and cuddly but he was the devil in disguise and Jason should have never taught him how to play poker. He could play people like puppets and sometimes his mind scared Jason and made him thank God that he got baby bird on his side before Dick could discover his talents and use them in a prank war or something stupid that would probably embarrass him.

"What do you want?" he asked and Tim smiled sweetly at him.

"Access to the Bat computer." Tim replied and Jason groaned, the devil, this kid was some sort of demon in disguise and Dick was a moron for falling for the sweet and innocent act and Jason was some sort of enabler for encouraging him.

Everyone was keeping Tim away from the night life, he had barely started training and he already wanted to at least help with the open cases or at least start getting familiar with the information that Batman had on the criminals but B said no, Tim was too young to read that list of crimes so they all thought it would be best if they kept him away from the cave at least until Dick was done teaching him some acrobatics mainly because they were trying to give him some sort of timeline and Tim was just tired of waiting.

"Deal now start bawling and make sure they don't go in there!"

Tim's eyes immediately filled with tears and he cried out for Dick who almost broke his neck in his haste to turn around and see why their baby bird was crying and sounding terrified. Jason nearly jumped over the banister so Dick wouldn't see him and ruin the whole keep Dick and red head out of the gym plan they had going on. Jason faintly heard Dick promising that everything was alright and why don't they go get some hot chocolate and calm down because there was no reason for him to be having nightmares. It was commonly known that Tim had nightmares since he was alone so often so while Tim demanded to be cuddled and the two teens took the younger boy away, Jason peeped in on Danny and Artemis, the two were still chatting away so Jason just shrugged and left them alone.

Tim took the extra attention for an hour before both Danny and Artemis walked into the kitchen chuckling about something and Wally jumped to his feet.

"What are you doing here?" he cried out in shock as he looked at Dick in confusion, Danny in both confusion and hostility and Artemis in shock even though she immediately frowned at him.

Dick on the other hand saw the video of Danny jumping into one of the cars with Artemis and assumed that they were already dating. He didn't bring it up mainly to give them some alone time and also because he didn't really know what to say, they were both older than him and even though Danny was his brother he was the older one, Dick assumed he knew what he was doing especially since he had a girlfriend back before.

"She's Danny's girlfriend." Replied Dick and before Danny or Artemis could respond someone else interrupted them.

"Since when does Danny have a girlfriend?" asked Bruce and Danny face palmed, Artemis's eyes widened in shock and horror as Bruce Wayne walked in and ignoring the looks of horror and shock on both his team mates face and his big brothers Dick decided that he was the perfect person to respond.

"About two weeks ago, there's a video from when he picked her up from school."

Danny finally remembered how to breathe and speak, honestly he hadn't been this embarrassed since Jazz tried to give him dating advice, very bad dating advice, it was around the time that his relationship with Sam was on the rocks and he was trying to save it.

"There's a video of me doing what now?" and he resisted the urge to bang his head against a wall, it wouldn't help the situation even though this entire situation sucked, seriously since when did stuff like this actually happen in real life? And somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that the whole video thing was not the most important part of the conversation and he had more important things to attend too but hey, he really was curious, since when did people video him when he wasn't doing some sort of presentation? Why were they even interested?

No one bothered to answer Danny, instead B put a hand on Artemis's shoulder and smiled, "You can be his date to the gala this weekend. They finally managed to prepare an event to announce that thing we discussed so you can bring her, I'll have Dinah send her a dress and I can get to know her."

Bruce left the room and there was a chill on the back of Artemis's neck which basically meant 'fuck with me son and I will end you', Dick didn't think anything was wrong and trailed after him asking something about him bringing Barbara to the event while Wally just stared at the two of them kind of shell shocked, a small part of her wondered whether they somehow managed to break him. Artemis grabbed Danny and dragged him back the way they came, she headed for his lab, it was one of the few places in the house that she could find.

"What was that?" she asked and Danny just dragged his hands through his hair because honestly he had no fucking idea where to even start with how badly everything just went so instead he just shrugged.

"Do you want to be my date?" asked Danny and her jaw dropped.

Artemis couldn't believe that he actually asked that question, his adoptive father basically gave her the shovel talk, his younger brother thought they were dating for who knows how long and they might have broken Wally and he was seriously considering taking her to some fancy 'gala', she wasn't even sure what that was, well actually it was probably a party but seriously how was she supposed to fit in at one of those?

"It might be fun and it would be better if you were there so do you want too? You don't have too, I can explain everything to B and-"

She cut him off with a kiss, because why not. It could be fun it could end up being the worst date of her life but Danny was sweet and kind and funny and she wanted to give them a chance and if it didn't work out then at least she wouldn't wonder 'what if' and he looked so cute all flustered trying to get her to say yes and it just melted her heart. If there was one thing she could be absolutely sure of was that he was not the type of person who hid from his feelings, he wanted her to come so he told her too, it was as simple as that when it came to Danny much easier than Kid Mouth who didn't know what he wanted.

Jason and Tim high fived when Artemis and Danny kissed and Tim smiled at him sweetly and said, "Remember Bat computer."

Jason smirked back at him, "I'll grant you access for 15 minutes, you take whatever you can in that time."

Tim frowned, "That wasn't the deal."

Jason shook his finger in front of him, "You never specified a time limit which leaves me with an opportunity. Gotta cover all ya bases Timmy, not a single thing can be overlooked."

Jason chuckled as Tim went back to whatever he was doing, that kid was a born business man and one day he was going to make grown men shit their pants at the mere mention of his name, maybe he could get Timmy to be a lawyer, like the ones that keep Luthor out of trouble. Timmy would be able to take them all on and he would win.

Jason thought back to how much he managed to accomplish when he realized something, Danny said something about powers when he was talking to Artemis and he didn't even know that Danny had any powers none of the other Bats did besides Dinah, then again it was just B and Robin and a lot of people didn't really know anything about Danny even he knew that his vigilante status was a huge mystery to the rest of the superhero community.

Later when Artemis left and Danny was in the gym with Jason having their training session, better late than never, he asked about it and it was only then did Danny realize that Jason and Tim didn't know where he came from. He called for Tim to come to the gym and explained everything to them after all they were family, they deserved to know everything, how he got his powers and what happened to him and how he eventually ended up here.

"So what does your ghost form look like?" asked Jason, mind still blown about an entire other universe while Tim looked like Danny broke his brain.

Danny hadn't changed into his Phantom form in so long, but he saw how excited they were too see it and he couldn't help but want to be in his other form as well, he had missed it more than he realized, Phantom was the part of himself that he had been hiding away in this world because there was no other being like him in this one. It made him sad sometimes, when he realized that there were no other ghosts like the ones that he had known, ones that would be similar to him, they existed the fact that Artemis and Zatanna found 'Secret' was proof enough but she wasn't like him. He managed to get an impression of her energy and he wasn't even sure what it was but it wasn't even remotely similar to his or any of the ghosts that he had known.

Phantom would draw attention from a lot people both the good and the bad, his DNA was probably more dangerous than Superman's because unlike him Danny's only weakness was electricity and that was because it was what had killed him, if someone managed to clone him and turn that clone into a weapon more powerful than he was, there was no guarantee that electricity would be able to take down his clone. Then there were experiments when people realized that he was technically half-dead and not even he knew if there were any other side effects to the ectoplasm that his body was now able to generate as easily as the human body produced blood.

All those reasons and excuses aside, Danny missed his ghost form, he missed the freedom that came with the power from that form and he knew that he couldn't hide from the fact that he would have to change into Phantom again. He couldn't hide from the past forever and the fact was that 'Danny Phantom' was his last connection to his family, to 'Team Phantom' and their carefree days of ghost hunting because once he changed he knew his uniform would be gone and he would be forced to accept the fact that he would never go back to those days and those people, he would be faced with the evidence that he truly was someone else now and thinking of the people that now called family, Danny was finally ready to see it for himself as well.

Danny took a deep breath and let the change wash over him, wondering if the suit had fully adapted to the changes of his psyche, if his last connection to who had once been was finally gone. Danny was shocked at the changes there was a white outline of the bat symbol and inside it was his own in green and Danny liked the changes, it pained him to know that he longer had the hazmat suit but at the same time he liked the new look.

Danny smiled to himself, he looked older now, more mature but at the same time he could still see the traces of where he had come from and even though his life was so different now nothing would ever change the fact that he had been a Fenton and the green on his uniform was proof of that, his dad always marked everything with a green F and now he wore both their colors and B's symbol, showing that not only was he part of the Batfamily but he had been a Fenton as well, just like Dick had been a Flying Grayson and Jason well, he didn't know who he would be yet but he had seen some sketches and one day he too would fly across the rooftops with their family.

Maybe Dinah could get a new Canary suit a Canary was a type of bird, she just needed the right symbol as well, she was after all the Bat mom it was only fair, that everyone knew exactly who would come for her if they took her, also something that would give the villains across the world nightmares when they realized exactly how screwed they would be, something for him to think about and tinker with in his lab.

Tim noticed Danny getting lost in his own head and tugged on Jason so that they could leave him to his tinkering. He often forgot when they were in his lab and he would start doing stuff that resulted in explosions which freaked them out even though Danny knew what he was doing (kind off) so when he went mad scientist, they just left him alone, it was just safer for everyone.

If someone had told Tim last year that the Bats would figure out his secret and offer him to be the next Robin he would have laughed and then crawled into bed to enjoy the little daydream but now that it was actually happening, he had so many idea's and plans and Jason was awesome and he wasn't so lonely anymore and his brain just didn't stop with the gratitude and the need to take this seriously so I don't get fired mind and he couldn't wait to a hero as well.

Danny was cool but Dick trained him more than Danny did and it was the opposite for Jason. Danny trained him hard while Dick helped here and there with this and that, he guessed that the two older boys mentored them with Danny taking care of Jason and Dick taking care of him but aside from the mentoring thing Tim was closest to Jason and Dick and Danny were scary when they teamed up. Jason taught him a lot of stuff as well but it was more playful and learn to let go and enjoy this and that while Tim reminded him of all the ways things could go wrong and how he couldn't treat it like a game.

They spoke to each other a lot about their training, school and how they were coping with all this, the family may have been made up of Dinah, B, Dick and Danny but it was a handful for people who had nothing and had no one around them, kind of overwhelming.

Tim was used to the rich kid stuff while he didn't have much street smarts so Tim taught Jason to blend in with the rest of the rich kids while Jason showed him how to be a kid and then there was the older kids that were bullying him at school and Jason showed up one day and beat the shit out of them before tucking Tim under his arm and threatening to break bones if they hurt him again.

Tim liked having someone who had his back and he knew that Jason appreciated the fact that he was there, helping him. Danny was great but he was also busy with college and inventing and the night job so having Tim to teach him which fork to use at a fancy dinner and how to dance properly so he didn't embarrass anyone helped, it also helped that he knew that B, Dick and Danny hated doing it but keeping up their image was important so Jason learned to do it just so that he wouldn't bring attention to the family just like Tim taught him, 'Unless you planned for spotlight to be on you don't let it hit you', give them a story and they won't stop, the more they dig the more questions they will eventually have and questions are bad for people with secrets.

Jason didn't get it at first so they spent a day researching how the media reacted to some of Bruce's past actions and how it led to the wrong questions being asked and how he would cause a scandal to give them something else to talk about so they would stop and he learned how he needed masks just like B, Danny and Dick even Dinah had learned to handle the press so he would have to as well and Jason had always been a fast learner. He excelled when Tim taught him things and Tim was always happy when he felt needed and useful and neither of them could wait for the gala to show off all that they managed to do on their own without anyone knowing.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Tim was trying not to laugh at the look of frustration and concentration on Jason's face. He was currently attempting to tie his tie in the fancy knot that Tim had showed him earlier and even though Jason was able to pick up nearly everything that he was taught, he still struggled with being comfortable in clothes that cost more than his rent.

Danny always reassured him that everything was fine and Jason had gone to visit his mother earlier that week. She was clean that was obvious and struggling a bit, he could tell by the bags under her eyes but she seemed happier, they were able to have a whole conversation without her being side tracked or getting lost in her dazed mind from when she was drugged up but she wasn't putting on weight either. She might be clean from all the drugs but she wasn't healthy and without the drugs clouding her he could see how sick she was but for just a day he had his mother back and he got to tell her how good everything was going and she told him how proud she was of him and of the fact that he was making a better life for himself he couldn't bring himself to regret going to Danny.

Jason scowled at his reflection in the mirror, he didn't look like himself, there was no grease on his cheeks or dirt in his air, no torn and mismatched clothes, he looked so different, the fact that he looked older flashed through his mind for a moment, he had more meat on his bones and his cheeks were rounder, he was healthier in the time that he had spent with Danny but he was different as well. He wasn't just Jason Todd anymore and a part of himself didn't want to assimilate into this lifestyle because then he would forget where he came from and when he told Tim that the younger boy shook his head.

"Danny never forgot where he came from and neither does Dick, this may be their home now but that doesn't change who they were before, it's the same for me. We can't forget where we came from but this place, the manor, this is where we become so much more than we believed that we could be. I never thought I'd be Robin, or that I could even try to be a hero but here I am and look how far you've come. Remember this is a mask as well, who we truly are that's who we are when you're with Danny and Artemis not these people, they might not care but B and Danny do."

Jason nodded his head and squared his shoulders, he wasn't here as Bruce's ward or adopted son, no those titles belonged to Danny and Dick. He was here as Danny's ward, it was kind of strange to think that Danny could technically be his father because he was his guardian but he liked to think of himself as his little brother and while technically that had made Bruce his Grandfather it didn't change the fact that legally speaking his guardian was Danny while Tim was here as his friend and representing the Drake family while Bruce tried to figure out a way to deal with the less than stellar Drake parents without a custody battle.

Bruce would win given enough time but that would put them under a microscope and he would make an enemy of Janet Drake and honestly he would rather go a few rounds with Talia than deal with that viper of a woman. Tim liked to believe that Mother was simply a dragon who would devour her enemy's whole and it was not worth the headache to deal with that willingly.

Tim just told Bruce to leave well enough alone, that if he went and prodded the hornets nest then they would have to deal with the fallout but leaving his parents to their own devices while they ignored his existence worked for him, it allowed him to do his own thing here in Gotham without anyone poking their nose into his business and now that he had them taking care of him then technically he wasn't getting neglected anymore. Bruce didn't like it but he did see Tim's point and agreed to let it be until he could find a better solution.

Dick had become accustomed to the madness that was the media when it came to the Wayne family, however there were going to be several announcements which were going to shock Gotham to its very roots and while he wished that Bruce wouldn't throw this many stories at the media at the same time, he couldn't help but agree with the whole, give them everything at once then put the house on lockdown and let them say whatever they want plan they had going because the truth was, the sooner there were no more secrets to hide the better. The media would be so busy covering what they had announced that no one would have time to creep around their other lives too much and it would give them some breathing room. Besides if they had enough rumours to be chatting about then they wouldn't have any time to come up with any lies that could possibly cause a problem in the future.

Danny liked to believe that by this point he was desensitized to the media and their bullshit, during his time as Phantom they hounded him and made him into a villain, as a Wayne he was seen as some sort of angel trying to save the world, a genius who made billions before the age of 18 or just another lucky orphan who Bruce Wayne adopted or the air head 'Brucie' was the lucky one for finding the genius kid, either way he was just done with the media, his girlfriend on the hand seemed to be freaking out and Danny was at a loss on how to help, mostly because he still wasn't getting what she was getting so worked up about, seriously, was this a girl thing? He was sure that Dick brought his friend Barbara, should he go get her or ask her for some advice?

He sighed, if he was this hopeless now, he was definitely getting dumped and this time it would be all his fault for being clueless. Artemis looked over at her boyfriend and saw the look of complete loss and confusion and she really wished that he wasn't so easy to read sometimes but it was Danny so it was really easy to read him if you knew him, he wore his emotions on his sleeve and if you knew him well enough then you would know how to read him.

"Artemis, what's wrong?" asked Danny and she ran her hand down the beautiful green dress he bought for her.

"I'm nervous." She admitted and Danny just raised an eyebrow as she started to rant about how she wasn't a high class girl and everyone would know that she didn't belong here in this house, wearing a dress like this and acting like some sort of princess, it just wasn't who she was, she was a rough and tough independent person not a china doll and they would notice how she didn't fit in at this place as soon as they looked at her and Danny just smiled until she ran out of steam.

"Feel better yet?" he asked and she nodded, it did feel better getting everything off her chest and Danny pulled her in for a hug.

"Just remember that the only one that actually grew up in this circus was B and Tim but he doesn't really count because he isn't very well socialized. The only people who matter here are family and they all met you and they already love you so they don't matter and Barbara is here and you know her so you do have a friend here if you need someone to cover you."

Artemis did actually feel better knowing that Babs was here, they were friends from school and even though she wasn't part of their night life she was trustworthy and cool and she had experience in this so she could always hide behind her if things were starting to get a bit much for her, Alfred even promised to smuggle her out if she needed a breather however she was determined to make it through this even though she was going to have to grin and bear it.

If she ducked out she was sure that it would be like a failing a test from Batman, this was him testing her and she knew it, this wasn't any ordinary gala, this was a big thing and if she could cope here then she would pass some sort of test which one she had no idea because no one ever knew what Batman was thinking but she just didn't want to mess this up.

Bruce and Dinah were ready to unleash the hounds of hell, they both knew that once the press saw her all hell would break loose, she was wearing a loose dress however it was obvious to see her belly bump which could only mean one thing which was obviously pregnancy. They glided down the large staircase, Danny followed with Artemis on his arm, followed by Dick and Barbara, followed by Jason and Tim.

The next day there were several different headlines on several different newspapers but nearly everyone published about how Gotham's Prince had been tamed and was expecting a baby with his girlfriend, Danny and Artemis made the cover of a magazine as they danced, Dick, Jason and Tim had been seen smiling and clapping in the background, there was even a shot of Dick and Barbara as she whispered something in his ear and there was speculation about what their relationship status was currently or could be in the future, there was an article on Jason which mentioned his friendship with Tim, there was so much family drama happening that the fact that Bruce Wayne was now a Trillionaire wasn't so surprisng, all in all they had successfully given the media enough stories to satisfy them for a good couple of months or at least until the baby was born and they had the gender which would once again give them something to speculate about, no one in the manor cared, they were all too busy being passed out after the exhausting bloody party.

The Team was hanging out in the cave. It was a few days before Christmas and it was one of their more relaxing days when they didn't have a mission and instead of being bored they were enjoying the down time. Danny was not someone that Zatanna or the others knew very well however they did know that Artemis was dating him and Megan was currently reading the article where her friend featured on the front cover.

Wally was glaring at the cover, trying to set it on fire with his stare. He liked Artemis and he knew it even though he had desperately tried to deny it and here was the proof that she was dating someone else, someone that none of them knew very well, that Batman trusted and he was some sort of Hero. He made a comment about Danny once and Dick glared at him, saying that he didn't understand how powerful Danny truly was and that he really didn't want to know. Wally still didn't believe that he was powerful, he hadn't seen proof so he didn't believe it.

He made a couple of digs at Artemis and her relationship with Danny but then Dick got mad at him because that was his brother and Wally wasn't being fair so he just kind of dropped it even though he still didn't like it. The rest of the team didn't really have anything to say, Megan and Zatanna were still getting close but it was obvious to see that the two girls seemed to be happy that she was happy and that was enough for them.

Tim on the other hand was fiddling with one of Danny's new wrist thingies, he knew that Danny was making some sort of weapon for Jason, something about a crossbow that can be fitted at his wrist but he wasn't very sure or at least he thought so until one of the spikes went off and nearly took his toe off, his cry of surprise also alerted Danny to the fact that someone was in his lab so he showed up and took the device away while guiding Tim out of the place where he liked to blow things up, muttering about how this was not safe environment for him and he definitely shouldn't be in there without someone to watch over him.

Danny takes tiny Tim to the kitchen and they make cookies because B and Dinah are baby shopping, Dick and Jason are bonding, seriously the two of them barely had a relationship and Danny refused to let Jason hide behind him and Tim, he needed to spend more time with Dick, he had more experience in Gotham and being a Wayne and being on the team, all things that Jason could take advantage of and learn something.

He was going to be very disappointed when he finds out that they spent all their bonding time gossiping about who was in a relationship with who in both the Justice League and the team and Jason figured out that Dick had a crush on Zatanna and was totally waiting for an opportunity to blackmail the older the boy. All in all Christmas passed peacefully and their relationships were all getting a lot better.

Which is why New Year was a total shit storm, Dick should have known that he would not get a quiet festive season, not with the life that he lived or the people that he lived with because seriously who in their right mind allowed a pregnant Black Canary to go to the Watchtower to wish everyone a Happy New Year and announce the pregnancy and get their well-wishers since nearly everyone was trying to figure out why she disappeared again and she ended up mind controlled.

When she arrived on the mountain Dick's heart nearly stopped when she let loose her cry and then Connor lost his shit because Megan got hurt and Danny put the poor boy down hard, his eyes flashing green and no one moved.

"She's pregnant morons. You cannot hit her."

The announcement had many eyes widening in horror and terror since she was still attacking them, wearing a maternity dress, honestly it was probably an image that was going to haunt their nightmares and give them a reason to go for even more therapy, not like they didn't have enough problems already.

Wally avoided her attack and cried out, "Well what are we supposed to do?"

Danny went ghost, shocking everyone but Robin and possessed her, when her eyes glowed green they all immediately piled onto sphere and left the cave.

"Can we figure out a way to contain her without hurting her, she's kind of our mom so this is super creepy especially since she's pregnant?"

Wally couldn't help but voice the question on everyone's mind, "Whose kid is it? I didn't know she was married. Wait how is she your mom?"

Dick rolled his eyes, "Its Batman's baby."

There was a choking sound coming from Wally and Artemis looked vaguely horrified by her boyfriend possessing his mother so Rocket wrapped her in a bubble and Danny got out of her. She was safe enough inside the bubble.

"Why don't you have a heartbeat?" asked Connor staring at Danny's ghost form.

He smirked, "This is technically my Hero form, I am at my most powerful in this and I have access to all my powers in this form and in this form I have no heartbeat. This is my ghost form."

Kaldur ignored Wally's cry of 'there's no such thing' and focused on the problem at hand. Several hours later with many bruises Wally finally figured out why Batman believed that Danny was powerful, he and Connor tag teamed and took down Superman, it was obvious that Connor wasn't going to beat him one on one so Danny and Connor took a few punches and then he encased him in ice that he couldn't break and administered the cure. Then Connor went to help Robin deal with Batman while Black Canary took a nap in her bed, because no one wanted to tell Batman that they nearly fought his pregnant girlfriend and when the clock struck midnight Danny pulled Artemis into a kiss and she would have sworn that she felt fireworks.


	12. Chapter 12

AN: Ok so abciluvpie says to stop summarizing, here's the thing since this is YJ s1 I didn't want to interfere with the missions or the plot of it because it was a good plot and I was building the family, I was more interested in building up their relationships. I now have five years to spin my own stuff and I'm disregarding season 2, it was a good season but I'm changing a lot of their relationships and stuff so it won't be very accurate anymore.

Also I kind of forgot how far along Dinah is supposed to be in her pregnancy so I'm assuming that by now she's about 8 months. Its now February.

As for Jason's new suit, similar to Nightwing's but in red. It's a mash up of Danny's and Nightwing.

Chapter twelve

Jason stared at the suit in front of him, it was black with a red bird on the chest and red stripes on the thighs and red boots similar to Danny's with red gloves. Danny had created a weapon for him, wrist rays he called them. Danny told him of the weapons his parents had once made to hunt ghosts and since he couldn't see Jason use anything other than a gun and Batman might have a heart attack if he used a gun, he adapted the wrists rays for him.

They were powered by ectoplasm which meant that they were non-lethal however they were blended with electricity which would render a normal human unconscious. If he kept hitting someone with it then they would die however none of the bats killed and he was a bat. He may not be the son of Bruce Wayne however it had become well-known that he was the ward of Danny and that caused it its own shit storm.

Danny was technically only sixteen years old and to ensure that he could take care of Jason, Bruce had emancipated Danny. He trusted the older boy and since he had made so much money he at the time assumed that he wanted to be emancipated to ensure that no one could control him even though he still allowed himself to be adopted. It was kind of like an adult getting adopted, not such a big deal however the press had been curious to everything that happened.

Bruce had been shocked that Danny had gotten emancipated so that he could adopt a kid of his own however Danny made it clear to the public that Jason was his brother and he was his legal guardian. Bruce had happy to open his home to another child but Jason was his which meant that by default Jason was Danny's heir. While he partnered with Wayne enterprises, Danny got a huge pay out for the energy source that he created which made him a self-made millionaire, while Bruce got a piece of the profits as well.

Danny was thinking of opening his own company however it would take too much work, he was happy to play mad scientist and give Bruce some patents to bring in cash, either way neither one of them cared where the profits went since Danny just contributed to everything that Bruce did but the patents did ensure that for as long as the designs were being used he would get a share of the profits, which meant that Jason also got share even though he hadn't really wanted it.

The press had a field day with the news that Jason was an heir to his own fortune while Timothy Drake the heir to Drake industries and Dick Grayson-Wayne since technically he was first in line to inherit the Wayne fortune since Bruce had adopted him first were friends. The press had dubbed them the 'millionaires heirs' and Tim pouted to Jason about bullies being mean because of all the publicity. Jason beat them up again before telling Danny and ordering the older boy to make sure that Tim got transferred to Gotham academy.

Jason was a protective person by nature and he saw Tim as his little brother. He hated the fact that Tim was left alone all the time and that his parents didn't care about how he was treated. Bruce was doing a good job of pretending that his home situation wasn't bothering him but he couldn't in good conscience just leave Tim with Janet Drake. He could provide basic care since the woman was never around but if something happened to the kid he technically had no say in anything that happened because he had no legal grounds to get involved.

Janet Drake just gave Danny an even bigger headache because they had to dealing with that woman was terrifying, he dealt with ghosts, dragons, and all the flavors of crazy that came out of Gotham however he still believed that a dragon is tamer than that woman. She had a cold dead look in her eyes. He still couldn't shake the feeling that she had stripped him bare and saw into his bloody soul before they somehow made a business deal even though he wasn't even there to talk business.

Basically she had returned to Gotham to attend some gala and Danny ambushed her since she came home to an empty house and they installed cameras there in case someone tried to kidnap the Drake heir. They were alerted to the fact that people were in the house and Danny went up and rang the doorbell explaining how his little brother had befriended the boy next door and since he was alone, he had been staying at the Wayne Manor.

He also told Janet that his adoptive father wanted her to sign some papers that would ensure that if something happened while she was away he could make some legal decisions for her son like enrolling him in a school where he would have friends and would be bullied.

Janet agreed to give Bruce power over her son while they were travelling and allow him to stay in the manor in return Danny would do some business with her company as well. He refused to do so and instead offered to partner Wayne Enterprises and Drake Industries something that Bruce had always wanted to do since they were the two most profitable companies in Gotham and a partnership between them would bring in a lot of money however Janet refuse to become an ally, she enjoyed being a competitor.

Janet agreed to let Lucius Fox run both companies as long as she saw a profit from the numerous technologies that he had been creating and she picked someone else to run her side projects and Danny agreed. Basically she had sold majority of the company of Wayne Enterprises and ensured that she still got a piece of the profits because the combined income ended up being more than her company made in three years.

In the end the partnership only made Bruce more money and the man actually told him to stop making so much money because it was bringing in way too much of attention and it was making more work for him and Lucius was now running a business twice the size of Wayne Enterprises and the man was cursing him since it was so much.

Danny blinked at the man, "I wasn't trying to do a business deal. I went because Tim gets bullied and Jason keeps beating up kids to make them stop and demanded that Tim goes to Gotham Academy to ensure that they can keep an eye on him and to do that I need Janet to agree to let you make decisions for him while she's away and she would only agree if I worked with her and somehow we came to that agreement. I don't know how we did it either."

Dinah was eating pickles and peanut butter (pregnancy hormones, just do not ask, she had eaten some weird stuff since the cravings started), Dick was staring at him with both of his eyebrows raised, Jason was smothering his laugher and Tim was looking at him like a deer in headlights while Danny tried to explain how he ended up doing some sort of business deal with the Devil herself.

Tim blinked and grabbed a cookie, "You do know that you got played right?"

As one, every person turned to the youngest in the room with questioning looks and Tim sighed, "Mother knows everything. It doesn't matter where she is but when it comes to business she knows everything especially newcomers with potential. She knew you were a genius, she knew that it was your patent that raised B's status and she knew that you wanted to help me and she wanted a bigger profit. She played you."

Bruce actually looked shocked, "Janet always refused to partner with me and I hated her CEO."

Tim nodded, "Because at the time, the two companies were more or less tied until you brought in a new asset that raised your status to a level that she knew she cannot beat. You won and she would never admit defeat instead she cut her losses. If mother cannot win then she will milk the situation for all its worth. She has what she wanted, a larger profit that elevated her status from multi-millionaire to billionaire and while it doesn't trump your status it's the best she can get."

Bruce narrowed his eyes, "But what about you?"

Tim shrugged, "Mother has never wanted a child, not really. She needed an heir, a vessel an asset but not a child, not someone to nurture and care for. I am merely another asset to her, one that you have agreed to take full responsibility of while she is away until I am older and can inherit the company. Now she doesn't have to come back until I am 18 years old. She never cared about what happened to me. She was just waiting until I was old enough to be utilized as an asset."

Dinah dropped her pickle and tears gathered in her eyes, she couldn't believe that this tiny, amazing child had been so unloved. They had sessions but he had always told her that he understood what he meant to his parents she hadn't known it was this bad.

"That's' all kinds of fucked up." said Jason breaking the silence and Bruce didn't even tell him to mind his language as he was too shocked.

"You know that's not how we think of you right Timmy?" asked Dinah and Tim beamed at them and nodded his head.

"I know, that's just how they are and that's okay. Not everyone is meant to be a parent. You guys were meant for it. Can I take the placement test in Gotham Academy now?" asked Tim.

Bruce merely nodded his head trying to find the strength not to put on his suit and scare the crap out of the Drakes. His father just went along with whatever his mother wanted and it was just sad. He was glad that Danny found the kid and that they were here for him now. He was a special kid and he was determined to make sure that he knew that.

Tim had done something amazing, he had accepted the fact that his parents weren't ever going to be there for him and it wasn't their fault. Dinah assumed that since he was so intelligent that he was able to understand but that didn't mean that sometimes he didn't feel unloved or blame himself for his parents not loving him. She decided to ensure that he was able to remember at all times that it wasn't his fault his parents were too stupid to appreciate the precious gift that he is but other than that all they could do was ensure that he felt loved, safe and happy.

Tim knew that he still had a long way to go before he could go out as Robin, Dick and Bruce were insisting that he be properly trained and Tim knew that eight months was not enough time training, not even on the bat-schedule that he was training but that didn't mean he didn't feel a little jealous when Jason was presented with his suit. It was largely based of Danny's with the boots and gloves, however he had a utility belt in red around his waist unlike Danny who didn't really carry one.

After presenting the suit to him Danny smiled at Jason, "Do you have a name picked out yet?"

Everyone was there, in the bat-cave to show their support of him taking up his own mantle and he nodded yes. If his voice had been a bit strained and his eyes a little brighter than usual then no one mentioned it but he managed to mutter out, "JayHawk."

Bruce smiled at the whole bird theme, he had given up hope that anyone would stop associating him with birds so he just accepted it. Robin was a bird even if no one knew that the name came from something else, something that tied Dick to his past and his parents so it was only fair that the rest of the family have bird themed names.

Dick on the other hand narrowed his eyes at Danny, "Your hero name isn't bird related Danny."

Danny chuckled, "Nope, but Phantom does wear the bat symbol."

Dick dropped the subject at the time because it was time for patrol and it was JayHawk's first time in the field. Bruce and Dick were off doing the dynamic duo thing while Dinah and Tim stayed at the computer to send them instructions. Danny patrolled with Jason, letting him fly out and see for himself what he could and couldn't handle. He hovered for a while but Jason stuck to muggings, car thieves and kidnappings. He didn't try taking on too many at the same time which was a good thing, he was able to get his feet wet without getting in over his head.

A month later, JayHawk finally made the news, there had been rumors about a new hero running on the rooftops however JayHawk ended up in the paper after stopping a bank robbery by the Riddler. Danny had been present but he hadn't seen anything too dangerous so he let the kid handle it and he did well. Bruce told Jason that he was proud of him and his progress but reminded him to be careful in the field and call if he needs help.

A week later Dinah went into labor and the couple had already decided that they were going to do a home birth and they had everything all set up with Alfred and Artemis on call for when this happened. Bruce still fainted, Dick took pictures and Danny held Dinah's hand. Jason blocked Tim's ears as Dinah swore, cursed and promised Bruce death for doing this to her. Several hours later and one exhausted woman later, a screaming baby had been introduced to the world, they named him Damian Wayne.

Artemis had snuck into Danny's room and was currently cuddled up on his bed. It had been a couple hours since the birth of their son and Bruce and Dinah were still in awe of their newborn so Dick had taken Jason and Tim out of the house for some ice-cream trying to give them some time and space to process and also wanting to get out of the house after witnessing the birth of a child. It was a little terrifying to three boys.

Danny showered and entered his room wearing sweatpants and toweling his hair dry, "You look deep in thought. Care to share?"

Artemis stared at Danny, he wasn't overly tall or broad, but he was lean a lot like swimmer and very well developed. All his muscles were well defined and he was scarred. Artemis wore a mask as well and she knew that you can't do the things that they did and not have scars but Danny didn't have many, but there were quite a bit. He told her about them when she traced the one over his shoulder.

Sam (His ex-girlfriend had been possessed by a plant creature and hit him with a vine), he told her the stories of how he got all the others and she couldn't help but wonder, "Do you think you could ever give it up? The life?"

Danny caressed her cheek, "I'm not like you guys Artemis. Dick, Jason, Tim, Bruce, Dinah and many of your friends chose this life and the people on the team, they could maybe one day give it up but not me. I'm part ghost Artemis and we have an obsession if left unfulfilled I could be driven insane, I've seen it happen to other ghosts in my world. I have to protect people and Gotham is my haunt now. I have to protect it. Its why I didn't join any teams, teams are mobile, they work globally, I only care for Gotham."

Artemis knew that Danny wasn't fully human and she could fully admit that when they started dating she wasn't really thinking long term. She sort of had feelings for Wally, there was this connection between them but he was acting so immature and childish and he couldn't admit to what she wanted so when Danny asked her out and he knew what he wanted, it was nice to be seen and wanted so she agreed to one date but she never expected that it would grow the way it had.

Danny was good to her but he was also kind, funny, smart and attentive. They challenged each other well and their relationship had only grown in the time they spent together. Neither of them expected it so it was only fair that they talked, really talked about the future and that meant understanding each other and what they thought their future could be together. They weren't promising to marry each other or anything like that but a basic idea of what they both wanted, needed to be said aloud.

"I know that you won't ever stop, I understand that but other than the hero life what do you want?" asked Artemis and Danny merely shrugged.

"To be happy Artemis, if you're asking about kids, then yes it would be nice but I don't mind not having them either. I wouldn't ask you to give up the hero life either but I also wouldn't stop you if that's what you wanted." Replied Danny.

Artemis bit her lip, she didn't want to give up the life but she had to admit, she wanted kids. She always had ever since she had been a child, she dreamed about being her mom and her mom for all her mistakes had been a pretty awesome mom.

"I don't know if I want to give it up but I would like kids, not now, just someday. I don't think I would want to be on the team forever." She said and Danny smiled at her.

"Bruce and Dinah can have a family and still be heroes, Iris and Barry are married, Superman and Lois, having a family will not change who we are and if you want to retire after having then that's alright too, just know that nearly everyone in this family will wear a mask at some point so expect the baby to be a ninja. I almost feel sorry for Damian because I know Dick is planning to get that kid on a trapeze as soon as he can crawl."

Artemis laughed, and Danny continued, "You can retire from the team if you want but why?"

Artemis shrugged, "The team takes a lot of time and effort, patrolling in Star City isn't that hard, day to day patrols but on the team the stakes are higher. I don't think I want to take those chances forever you know?"

Danny nodded his head, the team was a big responsibility and it was time consuming. Patrolling was done at night, and it was easier when all you were doing was one thing at a time.

"You could always retire from the team. You joined to prove how trustworthy you are and you did that so you can continue for as long as you like and then give it up when you're ready. Maybe you could move in with me and we could patrol together."

Artemis smiled and kissed him, she had the answers that she needed. Danny wouldn't force her to change who she was unless she made the choice herself. She didn't know if she could give up the mask, fighting had been part of her life for too long, she didn't know who she was without it and she was happy knowing that Danny wasn't making any concrete plans yet. They could make their decisions as they moved forward but for now the idea of what the future could be was enough for them.


	13. Chapter 13

AN: I write according to my interests so sometimes I start a story and I lose interest in writing it or I hit a wall and I leave it alone for a while so I felt inspired so I can't stop writing.

Also I'm not so sure about pairing Dick with Barbara as far as I know they always end up broken up in the comics and I don't really like her as his lover. Their friendship is awesome but their relationship isn't something I enjoy writing so comments? Help?

I'm kinda thinking of pairing him with Kaldur (he just gets no love from anyone ever) but I'm not completely sure if that would be a good idea but when the time comes I'm pairing Stephanie with Jason. Her relationship crashed and burned badly with Tim in the comics so she deserves better and more love and Batman treated her like an ass so I'm pulling her to Danny.

I am not making Dick move to Bludhaven and become a cop. Firstly he became a major ass and lots of bad things happen when he moved to that city and also he moved away because he was having problems with Bruce so it doesn't fit in my story and I don't really know where he ends up in YJ.

Again people, No beta, if you spot tiny grammar errors, ignore, I am by no means a professional writer.

Chapter thirteen

Dick groaned, living with a newborn while patrolling until 4am and running on little to no sleep was not good for him. He struggled to keep himself awake as he stared at his math teacher, not listening to a single word out of his mouth. He already knew all this stuff and he was also thinking about more important things like the future. It was kind of hard not to be doing that when there's a baby around and everyone is constantly talking about the future and what comes next.

He knew that Danny and Artemis had some sort of conversation about the future and he told her that he wasn't ever going to stop being a hero but he also wanted her in his life so maybe she could move in with him and go to college in Gotham someday. Artemis still had a year of school left so it was just something that Danny was letting her know he was open too if they were still together and he also knew that she didn't want to be on team forever but she also didn't want to give up the life completely, honestly she was still figuring it out and he was happy for them, for having an idea of what they wanted their future to look like but he was at a loss with his future.

He had always known that he didn't want to be Robin forever, that there would come a day when he wanted to be his own hero and after that disaster of a training exercise he knew without a doubt that he did not want to be Batman but he wanted to be someone else but he didn't know who that person was supposed to be, hell he didn't even know what he wanted to do when he finished school.

He knew that if he wanted he could graduate next year and honestly he was sick of school, he was going to be fifteen this year and school was making life harder, he needed a more flexible schedule but he didn't know what he wanted to study and if he didn't study then he didn't know what he was going to do. He didn't want to work for Bruce in the company, business was not his thing but at the same time after he graduated, he didn't want to do nothing and leech of his dad's money.

He thought of B in his mind as his dad even if he didn't say it out loud and he didn't want to spend the rest of his life sponging off him even if he knew that that man didn't mind and would gladly give him millions. He knew that B had set up a college fund and that he had a trust fund of some sort but he didn't want to use that money for the rest of his life. He wanted to earn it and working while being a vigilante wasn't going to be easy but he had chosen Batman as a mentor, nothing was easy about his life. He could juggle it if he ever figured out what it was supposed to be.

It helped that Tim was around, that he knew that B would be alright and he wouldn't be alone when he did decided to fly the nest but that didn't mean that he knew who he wanted to be. Tim was making good progress but he was young, he would turn nine this year and if Dick finished school next year then he would be ten and that would be a year older than he was when he picked up the mantle and he was pretty sure that Tim would be trained well-enough by then.

Honestly between Bruce, Dinah, Danny, Dick and Jason the kid had learned and he learned fast. Bruce taught him what he expected from Robin, Dinah taught combat with Bruce until she was pregnant but she still helped (from a distance), Danny taught him science stuff (he was a hacker, Danny was a mad scientist) and Tim learned everything that Danny taught him, Dick taught flexibility and acrobatics and hacking (but Tim was already better than him at it), Jason taught him street smarts and Tim just picked it all up so well. He would be amazing in the field but Dick still wanted to have some sort of idea of who he was going to be and every time he tried to picture it, he came up empty.

Danny encouraged him to talk to other heroes that knew him and would give him some advice, sometimes a different perspective helped but Dick didn't mind taking his time with that decision. Bruce always told him that he didn't have to go anywhere until he was ready and Tim ensured that he knew that he didn't mind learning and waiting until Dick was ready because once he started patrol, he would have less time on his hands. He was taking the opportunity to learn as much as he could before he entered the life even though he was eager and excited to get started.

Barbara raised an eyebrow when she sat down at the lunch table and Dick had his face planted on the cool surface. He was unconsciously running his fingers around the rim of his glass, lost in thought.

"Alright, whats with you? You've been moping for ages." She said as she poked his cheek to get his attention.

"Do you know what you want to do after school, like when you graduate?" asked Dick and Barbara was actually shocked that he asked something so serious. She was used of him joking around and making puns but he was really serious right now. She knew it was possible but she saw it so rarely.

Barbara shrugged, "I know I want to help people. I want to join Gotham PD but my dad would pitch a fit. I'm good with technology so maybe I'd study IT and I've considered medicine."

Dick groaned when she spoke and she just gave him a questioning stare, "You have an idea of what you want to do, I just don't know."

Barbara shrugged, "You may be in a higher grader but you are only turning fifteen, what fifteen year old knows what they want to do? I only came up with those options after months of searching and looking at college courses to figure out what I want to do."

Dick rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands, "I've got enough credits to graduate next year and I want to be over with school, I just don't know what comes after that. I know wouldn't mind if I decided to do nothing and stay home but I want to do something."

Barbara hummed, "Why don't you try taking a gap year and try travelling? Lots of people do that, trying new stuff until they figure out what they want to do.

Dick couldn't tell her that he was Robin and that he wasn't a regular person but at the same time he appreciated the help. Babs said to think about travelling but instead he decided to look at other heroes and see if any of the professions seemed like a good fit for him, in fact he wondered for a moment how far he was thinking of going. Bludhaven crossed his mind for second, the sister city of Gotham however it was too far from his family.

Dick actually felt a little better once he realized that he didn't want to leave Gotham which meant that he needed to figure out what he wanted to do in the city where having the last name Wayne basically made you royalty which meant that no one was going to take him seriously. He groaned thinking of how hard it would be to work himself upwards but at the same time he knew it would be rewarding. All that was left was to figure out was what he wanted to do.

Artemis collapsed into the chair opposite him and buried her head in her hands as well. He had befriended her when she didn't know his identity and she had become good friends with Babs and he was glad that Artemis had found a friend in her. She didn't have many and he knew that having someone like Babs at their back was a good idea however it seemed like today was a crap day because even Artemis looked like hell.

"Whats with you?" asked Dick and she pushed what looked like a contact towards him.

"I'm being sued." She replied and Barbara and Dick looked at her shocked.

"Why?" asked Dick and Artemis rolled her eyes, "Some guy groped me in a store when I was in Star City and I punched him in the face. His lawyers are calling it aggravated assault."

Dick rolled his eyes as he read through the papers and he smirked, a little evilly, "Firstly there's so little evidence here that he doesn't stand a chance in court."

Artemis raised an eyebrow, "He has a broken nose, I have no marks to claim defense."

Dick rolled his eyes, "As woman you felt threatened and reacted. Secondly he has no real basis for a case and if he wants to go to court fine, we'll just get the tapes from the store and sue him back for slander and we can tell him that Daniel Wayne is your boyfriend so you're gonna lawyer up with him in you corner and problem solved. Our lawyers can tear this apart in seconds, I see so many loopholes."

He pointed them out to her and Babs whistled, "Maybe you should be a lawyer Dick, I'm kind of scared of how quickly you tore that case apart."

That night Danny's eyes flashed a scary green for a second when Artemis told him about being sued and then he called his lawyer to deal with idiot. Well, he called Lucius and told him to deal with the idiot because he didn't know who B's lawyers were. He was some politician's son who thought he ran Star City unfortunately for him he chose the wrong girl and there were very little people in the world who were going to stand against someone named Wayne at this point in time.

During practice with Bruce, Dick asked him, "What if I became a lawyer?"

Bruce lost concentration and Dick got in a hit before registering the question, "You want to study law?" questioned Bruce and Dick shrugged.

"I was thinking of becoming a cop to be closer to the cases but that's only inviting extra danger so instead what about a lawyer? Like a prosecutor?" he questioned and Bruce thought it over.

Being a prosecutor in Gotham was hard, Harvey Dent was an excellent example of what could go wrong but Dick really wanted this and a lawyer was far better than being a cop. He was smart, everyone knew that and he was a good detective but he was better with puzzles and debating and talking his way out things. Dick would make a good lawyer he knew that and he also didn't want to lose his son so even though he was worried about the future, he had to let his son make his own decisions.

"You would do well. You would have to be careful of your double life but court dates and such wouldn't be too hard to juggle. Your working hours would be standard when not researching cases. I think if you really want this then you would do well."

Dick beamed at him before stealing a hug from him and ducking out of the cave.

Dinah smiled at him with Damian in her arms. She walked over to him and kissed his cheek, "You did well there."

Bruce sighed, "Are you sure? So many things could go wrong Dinah."

Dinah calmed the wriggling infant in her arms, "He could break his neck and fall down the stairs too Bruce. He is a good boy with a bright future, yes being a lawyer in Gotham is hard and dangerous with all the death threats and criminals. You make enemies but he is also bat trained and in a better place than most to protect himself. You make enemies every day when you use your money and influence to save this city, he is a target because he is your son, either way he is a target. You might as well be there for him to ensure that if something goes wrong he'll come to you."

Bruce took the baby from her arms, "Please don't ever grow up son." He muttered to the baby and the woman hid a laugh in her hands.

Damian was going to be the splitting image of his father, he had black hair and he was going to have blue eyes as well, she was sure of it. She kind of hoped that in a few years they could have a little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She always hoped she would have a daughter at some point but seeing them together she couldn't imagine him as being scary.

It was hard to believe that this over protective, paranoid, awkward man-child was Batman. He fainted when he learned she was pregnant and was useless during the birth but he doted on his family until he forgot they existed as he punched bad guys in the face. He was still a mystery even after everything they had been through, and she couldn't wait to be out there again. She missed being a hero and in four more months she would be able to get back out there. She also knew that Danny had designed a new suit for her and she was curious to see what it looked like.

Artemis had helped Danny design the new suit. Honestly she was spending a lot of time in the manor. She did her homework with Dick if Danny was busy in the lab when she came from school and she trained with whoever was available. Bruce even let her into the batcave and that was something that shocked everyone but she had proven herself to be trustworthy.

Artemis had been trained a lot like Bruce even if it hadn't been as intense. Her father wasn't as good as Batman but she had learned a lot of weapons and when she wanted to be a hero she had mostly just chosen a weapon that she was comfortable with and a hero that had a protégée. The bow and arrow thing was a Green Arrow thing however she didn't mind in a little while leaving Oliver. He was a good man but her relationship with him wasn't like the ones that Dick had with Bruce. He mainly just ensured that she wasn't a mole or lying or playing some sort of long term game with them.

Bruce had a lot of swords around the batcave, and she had taken to training the weapon every time she worked with them. It was nice but at the same time she had the feeling that Artemis wouldn't be around forever. She just wasn't meant to be Green Arrows protégée and she was grateful for what they had done for her but Batman was teaching her more than she ever learned from Oliver, mostly because she never really tried to bond with the man. She had the feeling that some-day she was going to reinvent herself and unlike Dick who was over thinking it, she didn't mind just letting it come to her because she wasn't in a hurry to move on.

Black Canary's new suit had a mask, because honestly not wearing one was stupid and in Gotham it would get her killed. It also had a lot more amour, she may be a meta-human but the only power she had is her canary cry, she doesn't have a healing factor. The new suit covered every inch of skin in black armor with a bat symbol the same color as her hair in the middle of her chest. All in all it wasn't that bad and not that much different from her usual suit. She had to admit that wearing fishnets in Star City would be enough armor but there was no way that she wouldn't get shot in a place like Gotham.

She still needed some time to practice before going out there because having a baby does mess up the body and she needed some time to get back to the level that she had been at but for now she was happy doting on her child and watching her boys grow up.

Jason knew that Dick had a lot on his mind so he tried not to worry him too much but everyone knew that out of all the people in the house Dick and Jason spent the least amount of time together so when Dick saw the kid in the gym stretching out, he joined him on the floor mat. They worked in silence for a while before Dick couldn't stand the silence and ended up telling him everything that he had been thinking. Jason laughed at him when he was done.

"You're the lawyer, Tim can be the business man, and Danny is the mad scientist. You know that people are going to wonder how the airhead Brucie can have such a talented family?"

Dick chuckled at what the papers would be saying in a couple of years, "Hey, we aren't blood related. Our success comes from hard work."

Jason raised an eyebrow at his words and the two boys broke out into laugher. So maybe they didn't spend all that much time together but they both knew that they cared for each other and if anything happened they would be there for each other. That was enough for him, for now.

"Hey, what happens when Tim is too old to be Robin?" asked Jason and Dick paused.

"Maybe Damian can be Robin next?" it was more of a question than a reply and Jason raised an eyebrow, "You expect Tim to be Robin for nine years until he's like nineteen?"

Dick winced, he was fifteen and getting ready to fly the coop, maybe Tim would want to do the same eventually, "We'll see when the time comes. You may be right but at the same Tim it depends on when Tim is ready."

Danny had been listening in and their conversation had been so all over the place he gave up trying to follow it but they seemed to manage just fine.

"I think that the two of you might want to pipe down before Dinah hears your plans about putting her infant in the Robin suit."

Dick and Jason both smiled at him innocently and he knew better than to trust that look, "Just throwing out suggestions. You cannot be in this house and not know how to defend yourself."

Danny shook his head, "How about you guys stop thinking so far ahead? Let's look at five years from now and then we can think about what comes next when we know where we are then."

Dick actually thought that was a great idea, he had been so focused on what comes next that he had been freaking himself out a bit but thinking short term, like five years was something that they could all work with.

"How was your date with Zatanna?" asked Jason and Danny turned to Dick with a raised eyebrow.

Dick blushed, "It was okay, I guess." He mumbled and Jason laughed, "You ruined it somehow?" he questioned and Dick shrugged.

"It was fun at first and then I don't know it didn't feel like a date, just two friends hanging out."

Danny put a hand on his shoulder, "Remember what I said about Sam? Building the tension until it fizzled out? Not everyone is meant to be together and sometimes its best to save the friendship before you lose it completely or you can try again because maybe it was just nerves. Just be sure Dickie."

Dick groaned, he was just done with today, so much happened, so much thinking, he was just done. He was going to take a nap before patrol.


	14. Chapter 14

AN: Jiffy185- Thank you so much for agreeing with me about Wally. I just found him whiny and immature and not cut out for the life. He didn't take it seriously enough. He was all heroic at the end there and he was a good friend to Dick but I just didn't like him. I'm not blind to the good parts of his character but I just cannot write him without making him an ass.

Chapter 14

Artemis zetaed into cave and found herself face to face with two new people. It had been a year since she had started dating Danny and for their anniversary he had taken her out of Gotham to a lake house owned by his adoptive father. It was beautiful and they spent the whole weekend together, going on hikes, swimming, picnics and she honestly believed that she could build a life with him.

Megan flew inside when she heard Artemis had entered the cave and she brought a plate of cookies with her. She smiled brightly at everyone in the room and greeted her friend joyfully. Artemis resisted an eye roll, she loved Megan but her bubbly attitude took some getting used too.

"Artemis, come meet Garth and Tula. They're joining the team, with Tula as Aquagirl and Garth as Tempest." Introduced Megan and Artemis hid a wince at seeing the beautiful atlantean girl.

She was had short red hair and creamy looking skin and pretty teal coloured eyes and it wasn't hard to see why Kaldur had loved her. She was beautiful and she was pretty sure that Megan hadn't realized that even though Kaldur was happy for his friends who had found love with each other, Tula had still broken his heart. Kaldur hadn't entered a relationship with anyone else, at least not anything that they knew off and it was going to be hard on their leader to see them together.

Garth stepped forward to shake her hand and Artemis immediately banished all thoughts from her mind, instead she put on a smile and welcomed them to the team. They were good people and just because Tula had broken Kaldur's heart it wasn't any reason for any tension especially since Kaldur himself had not been holding a grudge. He may have moved forward but Tula had been his first love and so far he had not been able to date anyone else. She reminded herself to be there for him in case he needed to talk. Kaldur was the responsible one but he would need a friend.

As she looked around the cave she realized that their team had grown quite a lot since she had joined them. Donna Troy, also known as Troia had recently joined as well. She also knew that back in Gotham there was a girl running around calling herself Batgirl that was giving B a headache because she refused to get off the streets. She had been training with B for about three months now and even though she doesn't know who was under the masks. Artemis knows that Babs is going to throttle Dick once she finds out because the girl is good, maybe in a couple months she'll join the team as well.

There were some others out there that Batman had his eye on but for now it was mission time. Kaldur was doing the debrief this time, since Batman and Robin were busy doing the dynamic duo thing and he already went over this plan with Batman before prepping the team.

Garth looked a little angry when he split up from Tula since they weren't in the same group. Tula was part of the distraction for the drug cartel they were hitting and Garth was on perimeter duty.

Connor put an arm on his and said, "Tula is faster than you are and able to create bigger distractions since these guys are based near the ocean where she can call upon more water. You are a better fighter so you are with the heavy hitters ensuring that no one gets inside out circle to hurt anyone and Artemis will collect samples and download any data she can find. Its strategic, mission time she's your team mate not your girlfriend, if you cannot separate the two then you'll get yourself killed. She doesn't need protection, she needs her team."

Kaldur nodded his head Conner knowing that he helped prevent a problem between the two friends because while their love triangle had more or less been sorted out, jealousy was a part of life and no one needed the teen romance drama right now.

Their missions had been going well lately however Artemis didn't think that this was what she wanted for the rest of her life. Danny made it clear to her that while he would help, if it was needed he wasn't going to join any teams long term. Gotham was his haunt now and ghosts couldn't leave their haunts for long periods of time and she could see herself leaving behind the extra work of the team to go to college while living with Danny and patrolling Gotham. It would be a good life just not yet, soon she decided as she settled onto the couch with Zatanna, Rocket and Megan to watch reality shows and gossip. They even invited Donna and Tula to join them and bond with them.

Dick zetaed over to the cave to check up on everyone after their mission yesterday and found Artemis and the rest of the girls deep in some discussion so he slowly backed away and went to find everyone else. Wally, Kaldur, Conner and Garth were in the grotto and he was introduced to their new team mates. The guys chatted for a while since Conner was messing with some bikes down there and they all got to know each other a little better. Garth was a newcomer and they all wanted him to feel welcome and help him figure out the surface life.

The boys wandered into the kitchen when they smelled food and it wasn't long before they could start eating that Danny zetaed into the cave with Damian in his arms. The kid was only a year old and he was in general a very happy baby and easy to take care off however Danny was supposed to be baby sitting and not in the cave, he avoided this place as much as he could.

Artemis walked up to him and gave him a quick kiss and raised a questioning eyebrow and Danny smiled at her sheepishly. Dick introduced Danny as his brother to those who didn't know him however it didn't take long for Wally to speak up, "What is he doing here?"

Danny rolled his eyes, the two boys just didn't get along and it sort of strained Wally's and Dick's friendship. Wally refused to believe that Danny was half-ghost and insisted that he was some sort of meta human which led to an argument and Danny stormed out after calling him close minded and prejudiced against things he didn't understand. Danny asked if Wally would 'be happy if they dissected him to figure out how he worked' and Dick had blown up at the thought of someone harming his family. They weren't as close as they had been once upon a time afterwards and they were only drifting further away from each other.

Looking back at the fight it was kind of blown out of proportion. Danny could admit that he had become a little bit sensitive when it came to how he was able to be half-dead because it was a well-known fact that he didn't fully understand it either. He only had theories but to completely disregard the evidence of magic and spirits was something just plain stupid considering everything that they came into contact with on a daily basis.

Danny didn't have the patience for Wally's closed mindedness and he didn't think that he would have to justify being alive especially not after all the shit he went through with his own parents and how ghosts were evil and emotionless beings. Wally was just jealous that Artemis was dating him and that Dick thought he was awesome. He felt kind of replaced even though Danny didn't join the team.

Danny handed Dick the baby bag, "You're on babysitting duty. No mission right now so take him and I'll be back in an hour or two maybe."

Dick took the bag and the toddler with a questioning look on his face, "A is gone to the dentist, B and D are on a date somewhere not in Gotham and I gotta go to a school meeting. You might have the afternoon off since you had tests in the morning but as soon as you left all hell broke loose apparently and I don't think taking the kid out of the house is a good idea at this point."

Dick winced, it was well known that even though Dinah had given birth to a baby, a biological son of Bruce Wayne, the kid had not left the house since his birth. They didn't want the attention from the press until the kid was a little older to handle and deal with all the drama.

"School meeting?" questioned Artemis.

"I blame you. He did that thing you taught him." Replied Danny as Artemis hid a laugh behind a cough and tried to look serious.

"We both know why he did it." She told him and Danny rolled his eyes.

"He shouldn't be fighting, he knows better." Whined Danny and he knew he was whining but dammit he was working on a new type of engine and he was really close to getting it perfect when he got the call and this was just not the time for Jason to be beating up bullies.

One would think that by now kids would stop pushing Tim around because Jason was like a bull dog who growled when the kid so much as had a bruise. Danny actually felt sorry for the thug that tried to hurt Robin because JayHawk would probably break bones. He should remember to ask Dinah to do another session with Jason. Danny didn't want to take the chances that Jason might dance in the lines of grey especially after living in Crime Alley, anger and pain were powerful emotions.

Dick coughed to interrupt the two of them, "While your conversation of an old married couple bickering over their child and where said child gets their behavior from isn't interesting and all, aren't you late for a meeting?"

Danny growled at him and zetaed away promising revenge while the rest of the team watched the trio in shock. Most of them knew of Danny, Conner still had lunch with him every now and then (Danny had been the first person who tried to help with control) but he hadn't been around in a long time and no one really knew much about him and seeing him with Artemis it was shocking to see their relationship, to actually witness their affection.

"Old married couple?" questioned Artemis and Dick shrugged, "You guys bicker worse than a sappy couple from a 70's tv show. Its kinda inspiring and at the same time nauseating."

Artemis glared at him, "We do not act like that."

Dick raised an eyebrow at her, "You're wearing his sweater."

Artemis crossed her arms, "Its cold."

Dick grinned, "And you just so happened to have his sweater in the cave and not one of your own."

Dick grinned in triumph when she had no response and instead he passed her the baby which snuggled into her chest. Artemis was around so often she kind of learned everything a newborn needed with the rest of the family since they were all pitching in to help out. Dick already took the kid to the trapeze, he could barely crawl and Dick was slowly teaching him to tumble. Dinah was gonna kill him and Jason was going to record it.

"I'm gonna warm up his bottle." Said Dick as he took the baby bag into the kitchen and left Damian with Artemis who had wandered back into the lounge.

The girls immediately turned to the kid in Artemis's arms while Conner and Kaldur watched Dick, "They're still together?" asked Wally and Dick just nodded his head.

"They're always together, I swear I see Artemis so much she basically lives in the manor. Last week at school some shumck tried to hit on her and I threw my apple at his head and I nearly called her my sister when I told him to back off."

Wally sighed and decided that him and Artemis was just not going to happen and he shouldn't have been such an ass when they met and just befriended her, maybe then they would be dating instead of being just teammates.

He had acted like a jerk mostly because Dick had really liked Danny and well he got a little jealous. Dick had been his first friend in the cape, he was actually the reason why he had the courage to go out there and be a hero. Dick had been the first protégée, paving the way for other teens to rise and become heroes as well and he had been introduced to him first. Then came Roy and eventually Kaldur however it didn't change the fact that they had been best friends and he acted like an ass when Danny showed up.

Mostly it was because of how much Batman seemed to respect the teen, one only a year older than his own son and he was the same age as Wally but Batman respected him and eventually adopted him. It was well-known that the reason why Batman and Black Canary ended up together was because Danny needed them both and they just kind of ended up together. Flash had told him that they expected her to end up with Green Arrow since they had been flirting before she got busy being in Gotham and ended up pregnant with Batman's baby.

All of that aside, he hadn't joined the team, something that they had created to gain independence from their mentors and prove that they were worthy of standing with the rest of the League but Danny refused to join the team and Batman even said that he was too experienced for the team. He heard rumors that there had been times when Batman called out to Danny for help but he wasn't sure how true that was, it was unlikely really.

And then there was Dick who was so excited to have Danny around as his brother, who bonded with him so closely who looked up to this guy so much and it kind of made him bitter. It had taken him a long time to gain the trust of the boy wonder and even longer for him to tell them his identity. Dick had connected with Danny in a way that he never connected with him and Wally had tried to so hard to be the big brother figure and it always ended up being the other way around even though he had been older, Dick had seen more. Behind his crackles, puns, smiles and jokes, Robin had seen and dealt with death in ways that he still couldn't understand Danny could.

He shook his head and decided to try and mend his bridges, Danny had claimed the big brother place so he was going to claim his best friend back.

Danny on the other hand was actually happy that the team was growing, it was proof that the League was taking the team seriously and agreed to allow on more heroes for the extra training. He winced when he remembered the time Batman actually called him in on a League mission. Well it was more of a 'you already know I'm in trouble so show up' signal.

Danny had scented Bruce and Dinah and while she was pregnant he knew she was safe however Batman often went on League missions and he always knew when he was in danger so after some time they came up with a signal for him so he would know if Batman actually needed help. The first time Batman used it was a couple months after Damian was born.

The League was facing off against an alien invasion, honestly you would be surprised how many times aliens tried to invade Earth in this dimension and all Leaguers had been dispatched to take care of the threat, meanwhile some had managed to sneak onto Earth and were investigating Superman's fortress.

Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Martian Manhunter and Green Arrow went after them while the rest of the League took care of the aliens outside the atmosphere when the aliens on the ground captured them. They were going to dissect them, they were apparently curious about their abilities and wanted to dissect them. Batman called in Danny since the League was in space.

Danny had recently learned teleportation and when he felt his eye twitching he knew it was because of Batman and when Batman signaled for help Danny went ghost and disappeared and appeared in front of his adoptive father. He phased them out of the dissection tables before grabbing them all, flying out and then using his ghostly wail on the building that they had been captured in. He hated dissection, then he went back home and left the League to figure out the rest. Apparently the League was curious about him, Danny refused to meet new people. He didn't like them and he was happy in his little bubble.

Which is yet another reason why when he parked the car in Gotham Academy's parking lot, he was pissed off. He didn't like dealing with the rest of the world, they asked too many questions but Jason had gotten into another fight and honestly he was just done with the day. He was having a good day until this nightmare that involved coming to this high school, the high school that had all the kids gawking at him.

He sighed as he got out of the expensive car he was driving. He honestly didn't know which car it was, he just got into the one closest to him and it was red so eye catching-great. He rolled his eyes and walked up to the office. He thanked whoever was listening to him that the upper grades had exams that morning and they all went home afterwards. The younger years started their exams next week.

He saw Jason sitting on the seat outside the principal's office with Tim next to him and he had a busted lip. Alfred was going to kill him, or maybe the man would just look at them until they melted in shame. He was sure that the old man could make anyone feel guilty for their actions. He was going to get into trouble for this as well. He just knew it and Jason would get cookies and Tim would get hot chocolate and he would have to take the fall for this.

"What happened?" asked Danny and Jason looked away from him.

Danny was shocked, well that was a first. Jason was always proud for beating up Tim's bullies so what was going on? Danny turned to Tim whose clothes were rumpled, knuckles were bruised and he looked angry and was glaring at Jason.

"Tim, what happened?" asked Danny and Tim growled at him.

Danny blinked, he didn't know if he should coo because Tim looks like an angry kitten or be afraid because there was a glint in the kids eye that spoke of suffering and pain and vengeance and did anyone let Batman know that Tim had a suppressed evil side that no one knew about- on the other hand his mom was Janet Drake and he wondered how worried he should be. Was Tim going to destroy Gotham?

Tim suddenly yanks him out of his thoughts by pointing at Jason, "He is a hypocrite."

Jason looks a little angry when he replies with a, "Ain't none of ya business. Shouldn't have gotten involved Tim."

They start to bicker and Danny still doesn't know whats happening so he whistles to gain their attention which he has for like five seconds before they ignore him and start bickering again. Danny sighs, he almost wishes that he left Jason in the dumpster and Tim on the roof-Almost.

He turns and finds a woman in a pants suite looking at him with a sneer and two other parents behind her with three kids around Jason's age all who either have a broken nose or black eyes and Danny resists the urge to cry, because seriously what the fuck happened and why did it happen?

The principal shows up and immediately the parents are blaming everything on Tim and Jason and no their children are innocent angels in this mess and they will be suing if they aren't expelled and Danny loses all kinds of patience with all of them and hits the table with his hand silencing the room.

"Madam I find your lack manners deplorable and if you insist on shouting like a fish wife I can have you escorted out of the building and to the market now I would like to know who I am speaking with before we discuss the situation at hand."

The lady turns an interesting shade of red and sits down quietly. The guy in the suit steps forward, all self- important and spoke, "I am Theo Elliot and this is my son Tommy."

Danny recognized the name, he was part of one of the founding families in Gotham, not very rich anymore but in the top 10 however the Wayne name still trumped them all. However Elliot ran in the same circles as the Crownes and Dumas families. He sighed, they tangled with the people oldest families in Gotham however the Drake name had earned respect. As powerful as they were with the Drake merger they just weren't powerful enough to win against a Wayne.

Danny nodded his head, "Daniel Wayne." Introducing himself and suddenly there was silence from the other families in the room because the principal knew him already.

"Timothy Jackson Drake, I will not ask again, what happened?" his voice was cold and Tim had to answer.

"They were making fun of Jason because you adopted him and then he tried walking away when Tommy hit him and bust his lip, they were gonna hit him again so I defended him."

Tommy shouted, "That gremlin launched himself at us from the top of the staircase."

Danny resisted the urge to laugh or cry, he wasn't sure which it was at that point.

Danny turned to the principal, "They were bullying my boy."

The man stuttered out that it hadn't been reported and Danny sighed, "I'm taking my boys and leaving. You can figure out a punishment for them but if they attack my boy again Mr. Elliot, I'll tear you to pieces and burn the remains. Do you understand?"

The three parents nodded quietly before turning on their own children probably to remind them that the family was currently way to powerful for them to be attacking and grounding them for life or something he didn't really care. He was taking the boys home and they could talk about this later.


	15. Chapter 15

AN: I'm still undecided about pairing Kaldur and Dick together however I was thinking of pairing Jason/Stephanie/Tim together so comments? Thoughts? This won't come into place for a while but since I want Cassie and Conner to end up together, Tim kind of gets left behind and I kind of adore the pairing even though it's a trio.

Whenever Dick is portrayed as bisexual in any fanfiction its always when he is older and comfortable with his sexuality. I wanted to try and write out how he would sort of come out to the family. I hope I do it justice because coming out is a big step and it takes a lot of courage and its hard for some people to come to terms with who they are so I'm hoping I don't completely get it wrong.

Feedback is needed people.

Chapter fifteen

Bruce let the sounds of dinner wash over him in what could only be considered as harmony. When he started this crusade he never believed that he would ever have this dream, children filling up the table and now he had Danny and his girlfriend Artemis, Jason and Tim, and Dick was just entering the room carrying his son and he couldn't help but beam in pride at the thought of having a son and for a while there he had been terrified.

He wondered what would happen if he never came home one day? Then he remembered that Dinah was not Selina who would have to give up her freedom to be with him because that was why she committed her crimes, not out of maliciousness but because she did what she wanted when she wanted it, she was a free soul and she couldn't be tied down.

If he married Selina then he would have to retire because she would have to give up her mask and he couldn't ask her to do that without doing so himself besides Selina would build a new world for herself, leaving behind everything that makes her Selina to be with him and that was why they went their separate ways. Neither one of them wanted to give up parts of themselves to be together.

Talia would never have been able to stop killing. She believed too much in the plans of her father and she would never be happy no matter what he did unless he was giving in and ruling with her as the next Head of the League. If he wanted Talia he would have had to abandon everything that made him who he was and it was almost funny in the situation he would giving up himself to be with her and he couldn't do that, just like Selina couldn't do it and that was why he wasn't with her but Dinah was different.

Neither one of them compromised who they were so that they could be together. Dinah always wanted to be a mother, she always wanted a family however she just like him chose to become a hero. Their reasons were different Dinah honored her mothers legacy, he did it because he didn't want anyone to go through what he went through when he lost his parents. The reasons for donning the cape and mask were both due to their parents even if the situation was different.

They both knew the risks however they both knew that neither one of them could give it up. They were together without compromising themselves and that was why they worked. It was something that he never thought he would have because he never found someone willing to stay and try which was also the reason why his mothers wedding ring was currently burning a hole in his pocket. He wanted to marry her, not because she was his baby mama but because he loved her and this life was dangerous and he wanted to spend as much time as he could letting her know that she was loved. He just didn't know how or when to pop the question.

His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed that Jason's lip was swollen so he asked, "Why is your lip swollen Jason?"

Tim looked down at his plate and Danny just looked tired. Bruce raised an eyebrow when suddenly his kids found something every interesting with his food.

Danny sighed, "Tommy Elliot punched him and he didn't fight back."

Dick immediately cried out, "Why not?"

Jason pouted, "I didn't wanna hurt him. I know how but they were just saying mean things. It wasn't that big of a deal. I didn't want hurt him and get banned from patrol."

Dinah raised an eyebrow at Tim, "Then why is Tim's knuckles bruised?" she questioned and Tim pulled the sleeves of his shirt over his hands to try and hide the bruises and Jason scoffed.

"Timbers here saw Tommy punch me and somersaulted of the second floor railing and punched him in the face before elbowing another kid in the nose and punching another. I didn't even know he could do that." Jason's voice had risen leaving him sounding slightly hysterical and everyone just kind of blinked at Tim because he is usually so sweet and soft spoken.

Tim glared at Jason, "You said no ones allowed to hurt me, that you wouldn't let them."

Jason shrugged, "Course not."

Tim folded his arms, "Then the same applies to you. I won't let anyone hurt you so if you fight for me then I can fight for you too."

Danny rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Its good that the two of you want to protect each other but you cannot go around jumping off railings and punching people. You aren't from a circus Tim which means that you shouldn't be able to do that. We can explain it away when Dick does it but people will eventually ask questions and questions are bad unless you want the story to be told."

Dick hid a laugh behind his hand, "People say mean things about me too Tim. I was the first ward of Bruce Wayne and everyone knew that I came from a circus. They were jealous and I didn't want fake friends. Ignore them Tim, its not worth the effort. Jason did the right thing but if they hit you again I'm suing them and by the time I'm done no one will try that shit ever again."

Danny tried really hard not to face-palm because Dick had already started studying pre-law even though he wasn't even in college yet and he didn't care that he hadn't finished school. He wanted to learn as much as he could as soon as he could and there was nothing wrong with being ahead but seriously, to make sure he remembered everything he kept parroting laws and making loopholes and he was getting a headache from it.

Later that night when they were all getting ready to patrol Dick stole Danny away for a few minutes and took them to his lab so they could chat without anyone overhearing them, "You won't ever hate me right?" asked Dick and Danny raised an eyebrow.

"Pretty sure you could kill someone and I'd help you hide the body Dickie. What's up?" answered Danny and Dick ran a hand through his hair.

"I think I like guys." Muttered Dick sounding a little confused and Danny blinked.

"More than girls or do you like them both?" questioned Danny and Dick kind of shrugged.

"I don't know, I mean I liked Zatanna and I know it was romantic but there was this guy that I saw at the gym and I think I was attracted to him like butterflies in the stomach kind of thing."

Dick sounded unsure but Danny prayed for patience, couldn't his little brother have his sexual crisis tomorrow or at least after he got four hours of sleep because seriously? He didn't think he had the energy for this right now but he saw the look of panic his brothers eyes and he knew how hard and important this must be for him so he couldn't just dismiss it or ignore it or half ass his reply here.

"There's nothing wrong that Dick. You know that right?" questioned Danny and Dick just kind of tugged on his hair and nodded his head.

"I know that logically but.." Dick trailed off and Danny gestured for the boy to sit down.

"I don't care who you date Dick. You could date an alien and I still wouldn't care, man or woman it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you are happy with who end up with."

Dick seemed to calm down but then he bit his lip, "But its different with a guy right?"

Danny's eyes widened, "Different from being with a female yes, maybe or probably. Look Dick I can't really tell you much, I don't have much experience in that department but I do something that we can do. There's an LGBT community in Gotham's youth center, how about we go check it out on Saturday? We'll go together and we'll find someone to talk too that can help answer the questions that you have and it'll give you some time to research the subject more. If you want we can do the internet searches together but internet is always factual and talking to people usually gets better answers."

Dick looked really hopeful at the idea and asked him, "You'll really do all that?"

Danny pulled him in for a hug, "I'm your brother Dick, I'd die for you so helping you with this is something I can do as long as you remember that whatever conclusion that you reach I'll love you either way and so will B, Dinah, Jason and Tim. As long as you're comfortable in your own skin."

Dick looked a whole bunch of articles and then he went with Danny to the Youth center where he met a lot of new people and he talked to them a lot. He met a girl named Emily Benet who was about 20 years old and she told him that she was bisexual and he immediately latched onto her.

Danny rolled his eyes and smiled at the girl, "He had a girlfriend and then he was attracted to a guy in the gym and he's trying to understand. He also has a lot of questions that I don't know how to answer so I brought him here."

Emily smiled brightly at him, "I freaked out too. I was thirteen when I realized I liked a girl in my math class and I thought I was gay. I kept quiet about it because I didn't want to freak out my mom and then the next year I got all flustered around my male new neighbor and I was so confused until I found this place. There isn't anything wrong with being bisexual."

Dick nodded his head, "I know that logically but I still don't really get it you know?"

Emily shook her head at him, "You do get it, you're just surprised. When you first met your girlfriend, you thought she was pretty right?"

Dick nodded his head and Emily continued, "That made you take notice of her and want to get to know her. The guy in the gym, what did you notice first?"

Dick blushed, "His eyes were a pretty shade of green and he had a nice smile and then I had butterflies in my stomach and I freaked out."

Emily nodded, "If that stranger was a girl you wouldn't have freaked out. Maybe you would have flirted with the person, being bisexual means that you are fully able to fall in love someone regardless of their gender. You meet notice someone, take an interest, get their attention and see what happens next. Its a normal relationship."

Dick blushed until the tips of his ears felt hot, "Is it different?"

Emily nodded, "Every and any relationship will be different because the people are different. The relationship changes according the people involved in it and what they expect out of it. No two girls are the same and it doesn't matter if you date a man or a woman. I dated a girl last year and she moved away. I'm dating a guy named Eric now and I still miss her sometimes. Its not about sex or whatever you're thinking, I miss her because she was a good person and we had a good time together but I am happy with my boyfriend."

She handed him some guides on male on male sex and told him, "This might help answer the sex questions that you have but the other questions. Its about finding a person that understands and cares for you and its completely normal. Never let anyone tell you that it isn't."

Danny really hoped that Dick wouldn't ask him sex questions. He didn't know how to answer those and he didn't think Artemis would be happy if he told Dick about theirs so he hoped that Dick would continue coming to the youth center on his own. He didn't mind hanging out there but Saturday was supposed to be the day that he spent with Artemis and he missed her when she was in school.

Dick didn't ask him to go back so he supposed that he was still figuring things out so Danny waited until Dick was ready to talk tell other people so at the next family dinner Dick met his eyes and Danny knew that Dick was going to tell everyone. It had been about two months since they went to the youth center so Danny waited to see what he was going to say.

"I have a date on Saturday." He said casually and Danny raised an eyebrow.

Bruce nodded his head absently and Dinah asked him with who as she fed Damian when Dick casually said, "Chris Hennings."

Bruce and Dinah shared a look before looking at him and they could see the red on is cheeks and Bruce narrowed his eyes, "Alright, have fun and be back by five. We need to go over the case we were working on and you'll need a nap before patrol. Saturday night is always a busy night."

Dick exhaled slowly and Tim stared at him, "Do you like boys or girls more?" questioned Tim and Jason choked on the chicken.

"I like them both Timmy." He replied and Bruce seemed less lost and Tim shrugged, "Alright."

Dick relaxed and Dinah hid a smile behind her hand at the casual acceptance from Tim and Jason.

Jason narrowed his eyes at Dick, "Is that why you were so freaked out all the time?"

Dick had been doing pull ups when Jason walked into the gym and questioned him.

"You *gasp* noticed?" he questioned as he continued his work out.

Jason shrugged, "You were stressed out and nervous but I couldn't tell why."

Dick hit the floor and drank some water, "I didn't know how B would react."

Jason rolled his eyes, "He wouldn't care as long as you were happy. No one cares unless you're unhappy then someone's getting an ass kicking."

Dick ruffled Jason's hair, "That applies to you too Jay."

Jason huffed and as Dick headed for a shower, Jason called out after him, "I'm serious. If he fucks around on ya I'll beat him black and blue."

Dick laughed and called out, "Language." He smiled to himself, they weren't a normal or a traditional family but they all cared about each other in a weirdly protective way and he couldn't help but sigh in relief that no one really cared. He knew that logically everything would work out but fear isn't always rational and he wouldn't have been able to keep his date a secret anyway.

Ever since Danny came around with all his genius, Wayne Enterprises had been raking in money and that just added more press every time Dick tried to go anywhere. On the plus side Dinah had opened up even more orphanages since Gotham seriously needed more of those and they were planning on building some low income housing and renovating the areas near Crime Alley to try and make it a little safer but on the other end all their personas had been attracting a lot of attention.

Dick had always been kind of a celebrity but with Danny adopting Jason and Jason's friendship with Tim who was the Drake heir the press kept following them all around and trying to figure out when they would be able to get a picture of the new Wayne kid, the only biological one since B and Dinah refused to let the kid out into the limelight just yet, he was having some serious privacy issues.

As soon as he went out on this date everyone would know and he didn't want this family finding out from a newspaper. He wanted to be the one to tell them and then there would probably be backlash from his sexuality and he needed the support from his family. People didn't believe that it was possible to be bisexual, saying that people were confused and it made him angry. It wasn't like that and now he would be able to make a difference in a different way as well.

Artemis simply raised an eyebrow when Danny explained why he cancelled their Saturday plans, "He should know that no one would care on the team or in his family. Especially on the team, we know how hard it is to find happiness when we wear masks, we wouldn't begrudge anyone their happiness no matter where it comes from or who."

Danny simply shrugged, "I think he needed time to come to terms with it himself. He has been rattled since you guys had that simulation scare."

Artemis shrugged, she was the first person to die, she didn't go through anything traumatic but she knew that it rattled the others.

"That was a long time ago now." She reminded Danny.

Danny shrugged, "Everyone has dealt with simulation however for Dick, it changed him in a way that cannot be undone. For a long time, Dick expected that he would grow up and become the next Bruce Wayne and be the next Batman however thanks to that simulation he realized that he never wants to be The Batman and with that decision it changed everything he thought his life was going to be and very suddenly he realized that he didn't know who he wanted to be. It was jarring for him to think of the future and not know who he was going to be."

Artemis nodded her head, she could understand how by taking away such a goal would change him and she continued listening to Danny, "Dick has been looking for answers now that he knows what he doesn't want to be and that means looking at what he wants from the future so realizing that he likes guys as well. It made him realize that he didn't really know who he is yet and now he's starting to figure it out, outside of Bruce and Batman."

Danny shrugged, "Dick always had an idea in his head of who he was going to be and in the last year and a half, he realized that he didn't really like what he was seeing and then he looked in the mirror and he didn't know what he was seeing, now at least he has a better understanding of who he wants to be not who he expected to be."

Artemis smiled at him, "Sounds like he is growing up."

Danny nodded, "Dick was always more mature than many his age but now he is growing into himself as a person. I'm proud of him."

Artemis kissed him, for a long time she had craved a family. She had lost so much when her sister had disappeared and her dad had taken off and she had left was her mom and now she had someone like Danny who loved his own family so much that he took pride in their accomplishments. Their family wasn't about blood, it was about bonds and trust and it was something that she hadn't had in such a long time. She hadn't had somewhere safe in a long time but every time she was with Danny, she found herself feeling like she was coming home.

Jason and Tim were going to ask Danny to play board games with them and then they saw Artemis move to kiss him and the two boys decided to cut their losses and entertain themselves because Dick was busy and apparently so was Danny.

"Wanna hack into the bat computer and work on some cases?" asked Tim and Jason nodded his head.

Tim was allowed to work on cases now and he was happy to help. He was really good with computers and the work that he was doing impressed even Bruce. The kid was probably a better detective than Dick and he was still learning. It was impressive but then again Dick was Robin because it was fun and now he was looking to create a mantle that he would use for the rest of his life. Tim wanted to be Robin because he wanted to be the Worlds Greatest Detective. Jason had to hand it to him, the kid knew what he wanted to be.


End file.
